Jaén Cathedral Jaén Cathedral The Assumption of the Virgin Cathedral is a Renaissance-style, Roman Catholic cathedral located in Santa María Square, opposite the Town Hall and the Episcopal Palace, in the center of Jaén, region of Andalusia, Spain. The cathedral stands on a site once occupied by a mosque. Construction began in 1249 atop the ruins of the mosque. The church was damaged and rebuilt on numerous occasions during the following two centuries until the sixteenth century, when several architects, Andrés de Vandelvira being the most important one, built the biggest part of the Cathedral. It was consecrated in 1724. The more
Persecution of Christians in the Eastern Bloc been closed or converted to other uses. The Roman Catholic cathedral in Shkodër became a sports arena and several Bektashi tekkes, including the headquarters in Tirana, became retirement homes. After the fall of Communism there were only three churches in Tirana; thirty of the most famous churches in the country survived by being marked for historical preservation. The 18th century Edhem Bey Mosque in Tirana was also protected as a cultural monument, but only foreign diplomats were allowed to pray there. Of 1,050 mosques in Albania before 1967, 800 survived to the fall of Communism, but most were damaged and