The cathedral of coloured light — 1,800 sq m of medieval stained glass in 737 windows floods the Gothic nave, and the Camino de Santiago's oldest royal route crosses its plaza on the way to Santiago
León is a city of 120,000 in northwestern Spain, capital of the province of the same name in Castile and León. The Cathedral of León — Pulchra Leonina ('the Beautiful One') — is considered the supreme achievement of Gothic architecture in Spain: its builders reduced stone walls to a minimum to maximise glass, leaving 1,800 sq m of stained glass in 737 windows and three rose windows flooding the nave with coloured light at all hours. The Basílica de San Isidoro houses the Panteón de los Reyes — a 12th-century royal crypt whose Romanesque frescoes (hunting scenes, the Last Supper, the Annunciat…
León was the capital of the Kingdom of León from 910 to 1230 CE, one of the most powerful Christian kingdoms of medieval Iberia and a primary force of the Reconquista before its merger with Castile under Ferdinand III. The Leonese Cortes of 1188 — convened by Alfonso IX — is recognised by UNESCO as the earliest documented parliamentary system in the western world, predating the English Magna Carta by 27 years. The Panteón de los Reyes beneath San Isidoro holds the remains of 23 kings and queens of León; the cathedral's stained glass programme was essentially complete by the 15th century — one…