Various historical events deprived Madrid of a construction that had always been postponed, a great cathedral. The construction of The Escorial Monastery at one time, at another the Cathedral of Valladolid (which was never finished), other times there were wars and always economic hardships that prevented that great desired building from being built.

The absence of a bishopric in Madrid, the capital belonged to the archdiocese of Toledo, was another important brake; part of the church did not welcome the construction of a cathedral in Madrid that would make the archbishopric of Toledo lose strength. At first it was thought to use the small and now extinct (demolished in 1868)  church of Santa María de la Almudena, a few meters from the current site of the cathedral. But the idea was scrapped after several failed attempts.

Finally, on April 4, 1883, the king Alfonso XII laid the first stone of the new building. What would be the future cathedral of Madrid was underway. Shortly after, good news came to the project. A bull given by Pope Leo XIII in March 1885 created the diocese of Madrid-Alcalá, the ecclesiastical independence of Toledo.

Temporarily the cathedral of the new diocese was in the old one. Jesuit church of the Imperial College, the Collegiate Church of San Isidro.

Francisco de Cubas He was the first architect, his intention was to erect a colossal neo-Gothic church, following the European trend dominated by the controversial figure of the Frenchman Viollet-le-Duc. He began with the crypt in neo-Romanesque style. He finished it in 1911 Enrique María Repullés y Vargas.

Other architects participated in the work such as Juan Moya o Miguel de Olavarría. The Civil War It meant a new stoppage in the works.

After the war, Fernando Chueca Goitia y Carlos Sidro They won the National Competition held in 1944. His project covered the interior neo-Gothic construction with a neoclassical appearance more in tune with the style of the Royal Palace. But in 1965 the funds ran out and the project stopped again, languishing until 1984, at which time a public-private board of trustees was created with the support of the City Council and the State and the works were completed.

The cathedral was consecrated by Pope John Paul II on June 15, 1993, at which time the Collegiate Church of San Isidro ceased to be the Cathedral of Madrid.

We see the main façade facing the Royal Palace. The one at the transept faces Bailén Street, and access to the crypt is via the Vega slope, at the end of Mayor Street. It has a great peculiarity, unlike most Christian temples, with an east-west orientation (with the altar in the east, towards the East, where the light is born and Jerusalem is located), the cathedral has a north-south orientation. Motivated orientation of its realization as an integral part of the Royal Palace complex. For its construction, stone from Novelda (Alicante) and granite from the quarries of Colmenar Viejo, very close to Madrid, were used.

In short, a great mix of architectural styles and multiple projects that mutated until reaching the Cathedral of the Almudena.

A abrazo.