The Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, is a Roman Catholic church in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. It is the largest baroque church and one of the most important in Spain and has the rank of cathedral of the Archdiocese of Zaragoza. Its name goes back to a tradition according to which the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, appeared to the Apostle Santiago el Mayor, who was preaching on the banks of the Ebro. The virgin leaned on a column or pillar, around which the first Christian Marian temple was built.
Numerous churches have been built around the column one after another. The first was a small chapel to keep the pillar. Following the Reconquest of Zaragoza under King Alfonso I in 1118, a Romanesque church was built, which was damaged by fire in 1434. The church was rebuilt in the Gothic style with Mudejar elements. The current baroque building is due to extensions and reforms carried out between 1681 and 1754 according to plans by the architect Francisco de Herrera, el Mozo, appointed by a commission chaired by Juan José de Austria, then Viceroy of Aragón. In its current form, the building is 130m long, 67m wide and has eleven domes. The rectangular building with four corner towers appears symmetrical from the outside, the interior is divided into a nave with three domes and two aisles, each with four domes. A clear orientation in the longitudinal direction only results from the Holy Chapel and the main altar and choir taken from the previous building.
