Flash with excessively conquest, the Cathedral Building Christians decided that they wanted to make a temple so grandiose that everyone on beholding it would take them from mad-man. They got their wish. Next to the Arabian palace in—is their massive Cathedral which covers more than 11,000 square feet.

After Saint Peter’s in Rome and Saint Paul’s in London, the cathedral in the Santa Lucian capital is the largest in Europe.

Like many cathedrals in Spain, this one was built at the top of the Mosque. Only the minaret was kept after being fashioned into a Bell Tower and inscribed with the words “this is stronger now, made in the name of God”.

With the expulsion of the 132 and the discovery of the new world by Christopher Columbus in 1492, the middle ages were over and Spain was about to enter a new golden age of prosperity and wealth.

Inside the Arabian palace next door, the Christians established the house of trade. The first circumnavigation of the world by the Spanish Captain Magellan was organized here.

This altar piece inside the Audience Hall is considered to be the first painting in Europe relating to the discovery of the new world.

In the modern age, Cathedrals continue to remain at the center of Spanish religious life and contribute an awesome sense of the history that has happened on the Alberian soil.

New cathedrals continue to be built. In 1883, work was started on its main Cathedral. It took more than 100 years but it was finally finished in 1993.

Perhaps nothing is more surprising and fitting of the changes that's been has seen in the last 500 years than the Sagrada Familia of Barcelona.

This breath taking project was begun by—in 1882 and taken over by Antoni Gaudí, a year later. It was the final project of Catalunya’s most famous architect and construction was continued to these days since his death in 1926.

Designed as a symbolic construction more than 500-feet-high, it features three gigantic facades with four spires on each symbolizing the apostles.

The decorative ornamentation is dense and a reflection of Gaudí’s obsession with the shapes and textures of metro forms.

The unbuild central spire represents Christ; the tower over the apps, the Virgin Mary and the four lesser towers the Evangelists Mathew, Mark, Luke and John.

As yet uncompleted it nonetheless has become the architectural symbol of the city of Barcelona and the last and most notable example in a long line of lustrous cathedrals in Spain.

As we have seen manipulating stone has been in twined with the evolution of civilization since the beginning of recorded history. Man has always returned to stone to define the pinnacles of his advance.

Whether it’s useless, practical, or symbolic stone, the most permanent of the elements has been shaved throughout the ages to develop, defend, and define the places and values considered the most worthy of preservation.

Spain’s history is alive in the country’s castles, cathedrals, and ruins and inheritance from the past and a legacy for the future.