Cathedral of St Mary the Crowned

Situated on the site of the chief mosque in the centre of the city, some of the early structure can still be appreciated; Spanish and Moorish architectural tradition. It was converted into a Roman Catholic Church soon after 1462. Subsequent to the tremendous damage caused by the Spanish and French for almost four years during the Great Siege (1779-1783) the major repairs including shaving off almost a quarter of the length of the building which then allowed Main Street to run straight through. This building is therefore considerably smaller than the ‘Spanish Church’ (as the early British called it) was. It became the seat of Roman Catholic Bishops but not the ‘Bishop of Gibraltar’ until eventually Rome elevated the church to cathedral status in 1926.