High above Ibiza Town, inside the walls of Dalt Vila, stands one of the island's most recognisable buildings.

The Cathedral of Santa Maria.

With its pale stone exterior, Gothic structure and commanding position above the harbour, it looks as though it has always been one of Ibiza's most important religious buildings.

But there is an interesting detail hidden in its history.

It did not begin as a cathedral.

It began as a parish church.

The church was created after the conquest of Ibiza

The history of the present church begins after the Catalan conquest of Ibiza in 1235.

Following the conquest, a Christian church dedicated to Santa Maria was established on the same site where the cathedral stands today.

The location was significant because it was at the heart of the newly Christian city.

However, the building visible today is not simply the original 13th-century church.

It was enlarged and transformed repeatedly over the centuries.

The first church was much simpler

The earliest church was a relatively simple rectangular building.

Its original structure occupied approximately the area of what is now the central nave.

It would have looked very different from the building visitors see today.

The church was subsequently expanded as the Christian community of Ibiza developed.

One of the most important changes came during the 14th century.

A Gothic expansion

During the 14th century, a major Gothic extension was added.

A polygonal apse was constructed at the eastern end of the earlier church, extending beyond the line of the old Islamic fortifications.

This was not simply a decorative improvement.

It was a substantial architectural expansion that changed the shape of the church.

A sacristy was also constructed, together with the bell tower.

The Gothic part of the building is one of the most important surviving elements of the medieval church.

The church still contains traces of earlier Ibiza

There is an especially fascinating detail beneath the building.

Remains of the earlier Islamic wall have been found in the crypt beneath the presbytery.

This means that the cathedral stands directly within the layered history of Dalt Vila.

The same location has been part of different versions of the city over many centuries.

Before the present Christian church existed, the area formed part of the Islamic fortified settlement.

The cathedral therefore does not stand outside Ibiza's earlier history.

It is physically connected to it.

More chapels were added

The medieval church continued to develop.

Side chapels were gradually added along the nave.

The first of these was commissioned in 1388 by Ponç Sacoma.

More chapels were constructed during the first quarter of the 16th century.

These additions changed the interior of the church and gradually produced a more complex building.

The cathedral we see today is therefore the result of several different periods rather than one single architectural project.

The church became increasingly elaborate

As the centuries passed, the building continued to change.

The medieval Gothic structure remained, but later generations added new architectural and decorative elements.

By the end of the 17th century, however, the church was in poor condition.

Reports from the period describe problems with the roof and the floor, which had deteriorated partly because of the burials that had taken place inside the church.

A major renovation was needed.

The big renovation of the 18th century

Work on the church began in 1712 under the direction of the master builders Pere Ferro and Jaume Espinosa.

The renovation continued until 1728.

It was much more than a simple repair project.

The interior decoration was transformed to bring the different parts of the church into a more unified Baroque style.

Pilasters were added along the nave.

A large barrel vault was constructed over the central nave.

The appearance of the Gothic chapels was also modified, with several pointed arches replaced by rounded ones.

The result is the unusual mixture that visitors can see today.

The building still contains important medieval Gothic elements, but much of its interior appearance reflects the 18th-century Baroque renovation.

Why does the cathedral look different inside and outside?

This is one of the reasons the building is so interesting.

The exterior retains a strong Gothic character in several areas.

Inside, however, the 18th-century renovation created a much more Baroque appearance.

The main entrance was also modified later, incorporating Neoclassical architectural elements.

So the cathedral does not belong neatly to just one architectural period.

It is essentially a building that accumulated history.

Gothic.

Baroque.

Neoclassical.

All within the same church.

When did it actually become a cathedral?

This happened much later than many people realise.

The church of Santa Maria only became a cathedral in 1782.

That year, the Diocese of Ibiza was established and Santa Maria received cathedral status.

Until then, despite its importance within Dalt Vila, it had been a parish church.

The first bishop of the new diocese, Manuel Abad y Lasierra, officially entered the city on 5 February 1784.

This marked a major new chapter in the religious history of Ibiza.

Why did Ibiza need its own diocese?

The creation of the diocese gave Ibiza and Formentera their own episcopal organisation.

Before this, the church in Ibiza had been under the ecclesiastical authority of the Archdiocese of Tarragona.

The establishment of the new diocese therefore gave the island a more independent religious structure.

Santa Maria became the central church of that new diocese.

Its status had changed from an important parish church to a cathedral.

The cathedral was still changing

Even after becoming a cathedral, the building was not completely finished in the sense of having reached its final form.

In 1803, the presbytery was enlarged and raised.

The main altar was moved into the centre of the new presbytery, while the choir was relocated behind it.

This was one of the last major changes to the building's overall appearance.

After the 18th and early 19th centuries, the cathedral underwent far fewer major structural alterations.

The cathedral and Dalt Vila

The cathedral's location is just as important as its architecture.

It stands at the top of Dalt Vila, surrounded by the historic buildings and fortifications of the old city.

UNESCO considers the fortified Upper Town an outstanding example of Renaissance military architecture and notes the cathedral among the historic buildings preserved within it.

The combination is remarkable.

A medieval church sits inside a Renaissance fortress, while beneath the area are archaeological remains from even earlier periods of Ibiza's history.

It was never just a medieval building

This is perhaps the easiest mistake to make when looking at the cathedral.

Its Gothic elements can make it seem as though the entire building belongs to the Middle Ages.

But the history is much more complicated.

The church began after the conquest of 1235.

It was expanded during the 14th century.

More chapels were added in the late medieval and early modern periods.

The building was extensively renovated between 1712 and 1728.

Then it became a cathedral in 1782.

And the presbytery was altered again in 1803.

The building is therefore a record of several centuries of Ibiza's history.

What is inside the cathedral?

The cathedral contains the Diocesan Museum as well as religious works and objects connected with the history of the church.

Its interior preserves elements from different periods, allowing visitors to see how the building evolved.

The mixture of architectural styles can initially seem confusing.

But that is exactly what makes the cathedral interesting.

The differences are evidence of change.

Why was the cathedral built so high above the city?

Its elevated location was inherited from the older settlement.

The hill had been important for the city's defence and organisation long before the Christian church occupied the site.

The cathedral's position also gave it enormous visual importance.

From parts of the harbour and lower city, the church can be seen above the surrounding buildings.

It became one of the defining landmarks of Ibiza's skyline.

A church built through many generations

The Cathedral of Santa Maria was not the creation of one architect working during one period.

It is the result of generations of construction, repairs, additions and changes.

The original 13th-century church gave way to a larger Gothic building.

Later generations added chapels.

The 18th century transformed the interior.

The creation of the diocese gave the church a new religious status.

And later alterations adapted the building once again.

Every stage left something behind.

Why the cathedral matters to Ibiza

The cathedral is important not simply because it is a beautiful old church.

It represents the changing history of Ibiza itself.

Its foundations belong to the period after the Christian conquest.

Its Gothic architecture belongs to the medieval development of the city.

Its Baroque interior reflects the religious and artistic culture of the 18th century.

Its status as a cathedral reflects the creation of the Diocese of Ibiza in 1782.

And its position inside Dalt Vila connects it with an urban landscape that is far older than the church itself.

Look closely at the building

The next time you stand outside Santa Maria, it is worth remembering that you are not looking at one building from one moment in history.

You are looking at centuries of Ibiza layered together.

A medieval church.

A Gothic expansion.

An 18th-century Baroque transformation.

A later Neoclassical intervention.

And a cathedral that did not actually become a cathedral until 1782.

That complicated history is precisely what makes Santa Maria so fascinating.

Its story is not simply the story of a church.

It is the story of how Ibiza changed.