The Cathedral and the Holy Chalice

In front of you is the Iron Gate, the baroque entrance to the cathedral, built in the early eighteenth century. Inside, in the old Gothic chapter house next to this façade, is kept one of the most famous relics in Christendom: the Holy Chalice, which tradition identifies with the cup of the Last Supper.

1What we know

The piece has three parts. The upper cup is carved from a dark red semi-precious stone, and the archaeologist Antonio Beltrán, who studied it in 1960, attributed it to a workshop in the eastern Mediterranean between the second century BC and the first century AD. The gold base and handles are medieval. The first reliable document dates from 1399: that year the monks of San Juan de la Peña, in Huesca, handed it over to King Martin the Humane. Alfonso the Magnanimous later brought it to Valencia, and in 1437 it was deposited in the cathedral.

2What tradition says

According to tradition, Saint Peter took the cup to Rome, and in the third century the deacon Saint Lawrence, a native of Huesca, sent it to his homeland to save it from persecution. That journey has no documentary support earlier than the Middle Ages.

That the cup is ancient is what the archaeologists say; that it is the cup of the Last Supper is a matter of faith.

3Accidents and popes

According to the cathedral's chronicles, in 1744, during a Good Friday ceremony, it fell and broke, and had to be repaired. John Paul II in 1982 and Benedict XVI in 2006 celebrated Mass with it in Valencia.

4What to look for

• The curved façade of the Iron Gate, designed to create a sense of movement.
• The iron railing that gives the gate its name.
• The Miguelete, the Gothic bell tower rising beside it.