Across the courtyard from the Royal Palace is Almudena Cathedral. This is a working Cathedral and holds services on Sundays. The rest of the week is open to the public for tours. We were not able to take pictures inside, but they turned much of the building into a museum which told the history of the cathedral. The Pope, more than one of them, have visited this particular cathedral. The museum has at least five papal robes and clothing on display. Some are simple, some are more intricate and detailed, one even had a bit of bling, ALL were amazing to look at, especially when you realize that they were mostly stitched by hand- the actual clothing and the designs on the robes. Truly amazing to see the talent that went into the robes.
~Outside taking pictures with the Cathedral as the backdrop or vantage point~
The exterior of the building was gorgeous and you could see the care they took when building the cathedral. The stonework on the design, accent pieces, and the building itself was beautiful.
The statuary on and around the cathedral was so detailed and you could almost picture that they could "wake up" and start moving at any moment.
Inside the cathedral itself, we were able to look around and take pictures. The images, paintings, glass all tell stories of various parts in the scriptures. This is done for two reasons: 1- it's pretty and adds beauty to the building that would otherwise be a "cold" stone building. 2- back in the day the bible was only in the hands of the clergy and many of the people couldn't read, so the people needed a way to learn the stories in the bible. This was visual and simple enough that everyone could understand.
This cathedral's ceiling was shocking to me. It just didn't seem to fit the image I had of what the inside would look like, especially after visiting the Royal Palace and the murals on the ceiling depicting angels and the heavens. After speaking to a friend who lived in Spain for a bit, she made it make more sense when she said that Spain had a heavy Moorish influence during the time the cathedral would have been built, thus the designs on the ceiling of the cathedral.
On one of the upper floors of the cathedral, we were able to step outside on the balcony to get our first panoramic look of Madrid. Spain is such a pretty country and a hidden gem of Europe.
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