Co-Cathedral of Santa María, popularly known as La Colegiata, is one of the best examples of religious architecture in Vigo, an exponent of neoclassical art in Galicia and the city’s most important temple. It is the co-cathedral with Tui Cathedral.
Located in Vigo’s Old Town, it was built in 1811 over the remains of a previous church and commissioned from Melchor de Prado y Mariño. This basilica with three naves has a facade with simple ornamentation and a unique sundial on its right side, which curiously does not face south.
The Church of Santa María houses the image of the Cristo de la Victoria, arguably Vigo’s most important religious emblem: it leaves in procession the first Sunday of August, along with tens of thousands of devoted followers. It also happens to be the first event of the Vigo Festival.
References:The Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg is situated in a strategic area on a rocky spur overlooking the Upper Rhine Plain, it was used by successive powers from the Middle Ages until the Thirty Years' War when it was abandoned. From 1900 to 1908 it was rebuilt at the behest of the German kaiser Wilhelm II. Today it is a major tourist site, attracting more than 500,000 visitors a year.
The first records of a castle built by the Hohenstaufens date back to 1147. The fortress changed its name to Koenigsburg (royal castle) around 1157. The castle was handed over to the Tiersteins by the Habsburgs following its destruction in 1462. They rebuilt and enlarged it, installing a defensive system designed to withstand artillery fire.
The fortification work accomplished over the 15th century did not suffice to keep the Swedish artillery at bay during the Thirty Years War, and the defences were overrun.