The Cathedral and Its Grail Chapel

The cathedral was begun in 1262 over the site of Valencia's chief mosque, itself built on the ground of an earlier Roman temple, and its long building history left it a Gothic core with a distinctive octagonal bell tower, the Micalet, and later Baroque and neoclassical work. The cup is displayed in the Chapel of the Holy Chalice, originally the cathedral's Gothic chapter house, a rib-vaulted hall completed in 1369 and set aside for the relic in the fifteenth century.

The chapel has drawn popes: John Paul II celebrated Mass there with the cup in 1982 and Benedict XVI in 2006, and the Holy See has granted Valencia perpetual "Holy Chalice" jubilee years. Recognised as the seat of the Archbishop of Valencia since the reconquest of 1238, the cathedral remains an active centre of worship as well as the home of the best-known Grail claimant, and its Grail cult has become a distinctive part of the city's religious identity and tourism.