Seo de Urgel - Cathedral

The Cathedral of Seo de Urgel, La Seu, which is dedicated to the Virgin, stands on the site of an earlier church consecrated in 839. It was founded in 1116 by Bishop Hermengol (St Hermengaudius) and built mainly by a master builder from Italy, Ramón Llombard, between 1175 and 1183; Italian influence can be detected in the four subsidiary apses at the end of the aisles and the design of the facades. After being rebuilt in the 18th century the Cathedral was restored to its original Romanesque form at the beginning of the 20th Century. It has a Gothic high altar and contains a number of fine reliquaries. Its great glory, however, is the cloister, built in the 13th century by a master from Roussillon, as is indicated by the carved capitals of the columns. The east side was restored in the early 17th century.