Santiago de Compostela Cathedral

Image: Wikimedia Commons

In Galicia, in north-western Spain, the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela guards the tomb of the Apostle Saint James the Great, discovered in the ninth century; King Alfonso II had the first church built over it, and the city grew around the shrine. The present Romanesque cathedral, begun in 1075, was later crowned with the Baroque Obradoiro façade and houses the celebrated Pórtico de la Gloria and the great swinging censer, the botafumeiro. Traditional end of the Way of St James walked by pilgrims for more than a thousand years, it is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.