CATHEDRAL OF ST.MARY THE CROWNED.
The Cathedral of St.Mary the Crowned is built
on the site of what used to be a Mosque. After the Christians
drove the Moors from the Rock in 1462 the Mosque was used as a
church. The Catholic Kings,Ferdinand and Isabella decreed it to
be stripped of its Islamic past and Extended. Their coat of arms
was placed in the courtyard where it can still be seen today. The
Church itself extended to the opposite side of what is now Main
Street.
During the Great Siege of Gibraltar it suffered tremendous damage
and dispite the attempts of returning exiles to rebuild, scant
progress was made.
In 1790 Governor Boyd offered his assistance in return for the
land on which the building site stood, enabling him to re-route
Main Street. Under the statue of Our Lady of Europe there is a
crypt where Bishops are buried, but until the 1800's any person
who died in Gibraltar had the right to be buried under the floor
of the Cathedral.
These are just a few facts about this historic Cathedral so
easily found in the centre of Gibraltar.
Situated in the patio is a shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes, her
statue having been placed by Bishop Canilla in 1858.