Catedral del Salvador y Santa María

The Cathedral of El Salvador and Santa María is the seat of the Diocese of Orihuela-Alicante and the city's most important religious building. Construction began in the late 13th century, in Catalan or Levantine Gothic style, on a site that had previously held a Visigothic church and the city's Muslim Aljama mosque.

Gothic with Renaissance additions

The building follows a Latin-cross plan, with three naves, a polygonal ambulatory and chapels set between the buttresses. The tower, likely the oldest part of the complex, was built between the late 13th and mid-14th centuries. Renaissance elements were added over the following centuries, most visibly in doorways such as the Puerta de la Anunciación, which sit alongside the original Gothic structure without breaking the building's overall unity.

Inside, the cathedral holds one of the largest collections of religious painting in the Comunitat Valenciana, including works by José de Ribera and Vicente López alongside Diego Velázquez, whose canvas «The Temptation of Saint Thomas Aquinas» is kept in the Museum of Religious Art housed within the cathedral's own rooms. The set of Gothic and Renaissance doorways giving access to the building is, along with the tower, one of its most photographed features.

The cathedral stands in the heart of Orihuela's historic centre, close to other churches such as the Church of Santas Justa y Rufina and the former Convento-Colegio de Santo Domingo. From here you can also climb up to the Castillo-Alcazaba, high above the city, or visit the Casa-Museo de Miguel Hernández, also in the old town of Orihuela.