Burgos Cathedral

In the XIII Century, a renewed architectural breeze flows around Europe. The bishop Don Mauricio travels to France and Germany on the occasion of Alfonso VI and subsequently Fernando III´ s wedding, ordering the construction of a new temple of huge dimensions.

Burgos, a city conquered by the king Alfonso II de León, was chosen by Fernando I as capital city, reinforcing, in this way, its status as Episcopal headquarters through Alfonso VI and becoming a key point in the Way of St´. James. Moreover we should add that the Castilian wool trade yielded large profits in its way to Bilbao. During the reign of the Catholic Kings, Burgos met its major economic boom thanks to the wool trade.

At the end of the XVI Century, the town starts its decadence, concretely from 1575, as a result of the economic break- off of the trading relationship Medina del Campo-Antwerp, what caused the ruin of the wool exports. It also caused the fights with Flandes, the discovering of America, the progressive monarchist centralism in Madrid, and the plagues that devastated the town, decimating the population. In the XVII Burgos remains practically uninhabited. Until the Enlightened Despotism, at the end of the XVIII Century, the city does not start recovering its old splendour. During the XIX Century this town remains as a point for agricultural training.

In the Spanish Civil war (1936- 39), Burgos became the capital city of the recently created National Government and during the XX Century it has been recovering its industrial power, especially during the 60´ s.