Exterior view

In the second half of the 18th century C�diz, this maritime city had developed into one of the centres of the Neoclassical movement. The observatory in San Fernando (1793), the royal jail (1794), and the town hall (begun in 1816) are evidence of this flourishing period. The cathedral, however, remained a chimera. Built over a period of more than a hundred years, it tells the story of its construction.Founded in 1722 and begun on Churriguresque lines by Vecente Acero, its design was Neoclassically replanned for the first time in 1762. The church was known as “The Cathedral of The Americas” because it was built with money from the trade between Spain and America. Building work - annually consuming a quarter of all the gold entering Spain from her American colonies - continued until 1838.

Though the cathedral was originally intended to be a Baroque edifice, it contains Rococo elements, and was finally completed in the Neoclassical style.