Jerez de la Frontera - Catedral

After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Vandals and the Visigoths ruled the area until in 711 the Arabs defeated the troops of Visigoth King Roderic in a battle near Jerez.

In 1145 the Almohads conquered the city. In the 12th and 13th centuries, Jerez underwent a period of great development, building its defense system and setting the current street layout of the old town.

In 1231 the Battle of Jerez took place. Christian troops under the command of Álvaro Pérez de Castro, grandson of Alfonso VII, defeated the troops of the Emir Ibn Hud. After a month-long siege in 1261, the city surrendered to Castile, but its Muslim population remained. It rebelled and was finally defeated in 1264.

Today Jerez de la Frontera has well over 200,000 inhabitants.

The cathedral is a 17th-century building that combines Gothic, Baroque and Neoclassical styles.

The church stands on part of the remains of the original Great Mosque of Jerez and the old 12th-century Iglesia del Salvador, that collapsed due to its dilapidated condition. Jerez Cathedral is an old collegiate church that was elevated to cathedral status by the bull “Archiepiscopus Hispalenses” of March 3, 1980, by John Paul II. The establishment of the monastery goes back to the Christian conquest of Jerez. Throughout its history, it consisted of an abbot and up to ten canons.

In 1695, the Collegiate Council began work on a new church. The work lasted more than eighty years. Only the tower remains of the previous church.