The Cathedral of St Mary of the Assumption () is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

located in the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

city of

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ) is an Autonomous communities of Spain#Autonomous cities, autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta is one of th ...

, in a small

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

on the northwest coast of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. A primitive Eastern Roman Christian church stood on the site, and some researchers have identified this with the one built in the 6th century by Emperor

Justinian I Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

. This was replaced by the old Great Mosque of Ceuta, an architectural work of enormous wealth, according to descriptions which have survived, and although it underwent several enlargements, hardly any remains of it are to be seen today. After the Portuguese conquest of 1415, the Great Mosque was transformed into a Christian church by alterations, but there is no record of what they were. The passage of time and damage suffered by warlike incidents caused the ruin of the building, and at the end of the 17th-century it was decided to replace it by a new church designed by the architect Juan de Ochoa. Building work began in 1686, but many difficulties were suffered in the years which followed as a result of a great siege to which Ceuta was subjected, and the new cathedral was not consecrated until 1726, when it was dedicated to the Assumption of Our Lady. Attached to the cathedral, there is a building housing the vicariate, secretariat, diocesan archive, library, cathedral museum, and other offshoots of the diocese, and there is also the bishop's palace, which surrounds a small triangular courtyard. Important sights in the cathedral are the Chapel of the Most Holy Trinity, a Baroque altarpiece, and frescoes by Miguel Bernardini, besides three large canvases and a 15th-century figure of the Great Virgin, which is of Portuguese origin.

References

External links

Cathedral
{{Authority control Churches in Ceuta

Renaissance architecture in Spain Baroque architecture in Spain Former mosques in Spain 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Spain Portuguese colonial architecture in Spain Neoclassical church buildings in Spain