Palencia - Cathedral of San Antolín

Of the side chapels, which all have very beautiful grilles, the ones of most interest are the Capilla del Sagrario and the Capilla de San Ildefonso; both have fine retablos, that in the Capilla de San Ildefonso being by Juan de Balmaseda. In the south transept is an interesting old clock.

The choir has a fine reja of 1555 and choir-stalls of 1519.

The interior is 130m/427ft long and 28m/92ft high. The Trascoro has fine sculptural decoration by Simón de Colonia and Gil de Siloé and an altarpiece by Juan de Holanda (1505). Behind it is a Plateresque staircase leading down to the crypt, the original church of the seventh and 11th Centuries, which contains the relics of San Antolín, the town's patron saint. The Capilla Mayor (1520), with a beautiful reja (lattice-work screen) by Cristóbal Andino, has a magnificent Plateresque retablo, with sculpture mainly by Felipe Vigarny, a Crucifixion by Juan de Valmaseda and twelve painted panels by Juan de Flandes. In the Capilla Mayor Vieja, behind the present one, are the tombs of Inés de Osorio (15th C.) and Queen Urraca of Navarre (12th C.).

Among the exhibits in the Cathedral Museum, housed in the cloister and chapterhouse, are four 15th century Flemish tapestries, pictures by El Greco, Zurbarán and Cerezo, sculpture and monuments. Attached to the museum is the Treasury, among the most notable items in which are a silver monstrance by Juan de Benavente (16th C.) and a portrait of the Emperor Charles V by Cranach.

The Museum of Sacred Art is housed in the Palacio Episcopal (Bishop's Palace), to the north of the cathedral.