Segorbe Cathedral

Anyone visiting the Cathedral-Basilica of the Assumption in Segorbe should set aside time for its cloister, the feature that best sums up the building's history. Built in the Valencian Gothic style, it has an unusual trapezoidal plan, the result not of a whim on the part of its builders but of necessity: they had to adapt to the irregular line of the town wall against which it nestles. The outcome is one of the rarest cloisters of its kind, and its appeal lies precisely in that unadorned simplicity.

Work on the cathedral began in the 13th century, resting against the town wall itself and following the forms of Valencian Gothic. The original medieval structure has not survived intact, but enough traces remain for the observant visitor to recognise them and mentally reconstruct the original church.

It is worth paying attention to the west façade, where a few Gothic remains still peep through, and to the main walls, which have been holding the building up ever since. Inside, several chapels conceal rib vaults that are now hidden from view, a reminder of the successive transformations the church has accumulated over the centuries.

Also dating from this early period are the Santa Bárbara Tower and the bell tower, two features which, together with the cloister, connect the cathedral with its defensive past and with the wall that shaped it. Exploring it is, to a large extent, an exercise in reading: uncovering, beneath the later layers, the Gothic skeleton from which it all began.