The Cathedral of Valencia

Originally built in 1238, shortly after the Reconquista, the Iglesia Catedral-Basílica Metropolitana de la Asunción de Nuestra Señora de Valencia is the religious center of the Comunidad Valenciana. The cathedral is laid out in the form of a cross, with three wide apses leading toward the gigantic altar, whose centerpiece consists of a series of frescoes.

The atmosphere inside the cathedral is one of sobriety. The walls and columns are of solid, unembellished stone. The paintings tend toward the dark, and the relics toward the creepy. And apart from a few stained glass windows and gold gilding around paintings and altarpiece, there's precious little color or light.