2-371-007 - Samuel Magal/Sites & Photos/Heritage Images

Interior, Old Cathedral of Coimbra, Portugal, 2009. Coimbra Cathedral is the only one of the Portuguese Romanesque cathedrals from the Reconquista times to have survived relatively intact up to the present. Construction began in the mid 12th century after Afonso Henriques (Afonso I) declared himself King of Portugal with Coimbra as his capital. This view shows the Renaissance style retable of the southern chapel in the apse, with its carved figures of Christ and the twelve Apostles. It dates from the 16th century.