Madrid - Almudena Cathedral

The Church of Nuestra Señora de la Almudena is one of the oldest in Madrid, dating back to the ninth C. In the course of the centuries it has been much altered and enlarged, pulled down and rebuilt, and building work is still in progress. In the time of Lope de Vega (16th-17th C.) a rich and handsome church stood on this site, close to the Alcázar; but in 1870, for reasons that are not clear, this church was demolished. In 1883 the foundation-stone of a Neo-Gothic church of The Almudena huge size was laid on the site of the earlier church, and a number of different architects worked on the gigantic project until work came to a halt in 1940.

Building work is now once again in progress on the future Cathedral of La Almudena, under the direction of Fernando Chueca. The facade, looking on to the Plaza de la Armería and the Royal Palace (see Palacio Real), is complete, but much work remains to be done on the nave and the apse, which are unlikely to be completed in the foreseeable future.