Although there is no agreement on the date it was started, it is known that the main altar was consecrated in 1188, as stated in the document which, along with the relics of St. Martin brought from Tours, was kept in one of the five columns that supported it. There seems to be less controversy about the date it was finished, around 1218-1248. Although Romanesque in structure, the Cathedral grows with the history of the city, and reaches up to four consecrations, the last one in 1966.

There are three areas the visitor cannot miss: Santo Cristo chapel, built between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, contains a canopy with a crucifix venerated throughout Galicia. This is a gothic image that, according to tradition, is one of the copies Nicodemus made when he saw dead Jesus on the Cross. The chapel is like a jeweler, covered with decorative plants in polychromed wood, twisted columns and reliefs of Christ Passion.

The Door of Paradise (13th century) also deserves special attention for being one of the most beautiful works in the cathedral. Unfortunately it was compared with the Door of Glory in Santiago de Compostela, but it has its own values of idealization and serenity similar to the French Gothic style. It is a stone transcription of the Doomsday, explained in a very meticulous way.

The altarpiece, by Cornielis de Holanda, is from the sixteenth century, and it is decorated with scenes from the life of Jesus, the Virgin and St. Martin. The 36 small size statues placed between the columns are exceptional. They are painted white and represent saints and Old Testament characters dressed in 1500 Flemish costumes.

 

When the Jesuits arrived in Ourense, they built this church where the Jewish Quarter stood, in the old Rua Nova, nowadays Lamas Carvajal street. It was opened in 1653. The altar is in Rococo style and was installed in the nineteenth century. It came from San Francisco church and contains the image of the Cristo de la Esperanza (1753) made by a local sculptor.

In the reign of Charles the Third the Jesuits were exiled from Spain. They left Ourense in 1767. As the church, even unfinished, was large enough it became Santa Eufemia parish.

The church highlight is the theatrical Baroque façade designed and carried out in 1770 by Celanova monastery Benedictine monk, Friar Placido Iglesias. It has nothing to do with the inside of the church, in a Classic style, with a concave central part joining the two massive lateral naves built to hold two towers, which were not built at the time. The façade is full of movement, with its large, carved window frame and plant motifs, so typical in the Galician Baroque style.

In the same site where now stands this eighteenth century church, there was a temple built by the Suebi converted to Christianity after St. Martin of Tours made the miracle of curing king Carriarico’s son. The original building, which was the city's cathedral in that time, was destroyed in successive Norman and Arab raids and rebuilt in 1084, as stated in the inscription preserved at the North gate. When the new cathedral was built in the twelfth century, the church became a funeral chapel and in 1722 was torn down because it threatened ruin.

The present church benefits from the view the Plaza Mayor staircase offers. With the Palacio Episcopal to the south and the beautiful Plaza de la Madalena north, stands this temple with a single nave and its dome. The Baroque façade of three parts includes four double columns that are believed to belong to the old Suebi building.

The church is consecrated to Santa Maria, which can be seen in the center of the altarpiece. The baroque seated image represents her as a wealthy lady with the Child on her lap. On Easter Day is carried in procession to Santo Cristo chapel inside the cathedral.

In the 1830s Mr. Pastor Santiago Saez decided to build this theater in La Paz street, former Shoemakers street. It was apparently a kind of revenge because someone had sold the box he had booked in the old theater.

He built the new one in the site where he had his home and his business, a bank. The result was a small Italian style theater, with a pit on the ground floor, three floors of boxes and a stage. The ceiling with geometric and plant motifs.

For many years it was the only public theater in the city. It was also the center of social and cultural life, with concerts, operettas, plays, or meetings. Zorrilla read his poems at the Principal, Concepción Arenal and Emilia Pardo Bazan participated in a literary contest and politicians such as Calvo Sotelo or Gil Robles organized their political meetings here. In 1912 cinema arrives in Ourense and three years later the first film is projected at the Principal.

During the 1970s it was closed and about to disappear. „Let’s save the Principal” was the slogan of a group led by artists, teachers, architects and people from Ourense public life, who managed to get it repaired during the 1980s. The Teatro Principal was reopened in 1992.