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Legacy of Andalusia

Valencia Cathedral

Originally a Roman temple, it was turned into a mosque under Islamic rule, Reconverted to a cathedral in 1238 after fall of Valencia and rebuilt later

Valencia, Spain

Coordinates: 39.475833, -0.375000

The Valencia Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic parish church in Valencia, Spain.

It was built over the site of the former Visigothic cathedral, which under the Moors had been turned into a mosque.

Excavations of Almoina Archaeological Centre have unearthed the remains of the ancient mosque.

There is documentary evidence that some decades after the Christian conquest of the city (1238), the mosque remained standing, even with the Koranic inscriptions on the walls, until 22 June 1262, when the then bishop Andreu d’Albalat resolved to knock it down and build a new cathedral in its place according to the plans of the architect Arnau Vidal.

Hypothetically, the ancient mosque would correspond with the current transept of the cathedral, the Apostles gate would be the entrance to the mosque and the Almoina (“alms”) gate the mihrab.

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