Cathedral Museum and Gelmírez palace

The Cathedral Museum occupies the cloister and its rooms, beside the Obradoiro façade, and tells the story of the cathedral and the city. The ticket also includes the Gelmírez palace, with its temporary exhibitions, the Portico crypt, the museum of the Sar collegiate church and the Diocesan Museum. Allow an hour for the collection and half an hour more for the palace.

What you see

The museum was founded in 1930. According to the Turismo de Santiago leaflet, a single ticket gives access to the inside of the cloister and its rooms, the Relics chapel, the Royal Pantheon and the Treasury. The cloister is Gothic-Renaissance, the work of Juan de Álava and Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón in the 16th century, with a star vault and Plateresque cresting, and can only be visited with the museum ticket. In the Royal Pantheon are the tombs of Ferdinand II, Alfonso IX, Raymond of Burgundy, Doña Berenguela and Juana de Castro.

On the upper floors are the Library, where the botafumeiro is displayed, the Chapter House and the great collection of tapestries with cartoons by Goya and Rubens, and the balcony. One of the key pieces is the stone choir of Master Mateo, reconstructed. The museum also devotes sections to the Romanesque cathedral, the Platerías and Paraíso façades and the Royal Pantheon.

The Gelmírez palace, the archbishop's residence, is a Romanesque-Gothic medieval palace from the 12th century that can be visited, with temporary exhibitions; allow 20 to 30 minutes. The crypt, built by Master Mateo to support the Portico and overcome a 12-metre drop, is entered under the Obradoiro staircase. The MuSar, in the Sar collegiate church, outside the old town, needs another half hour and can be left for another day.

Hours and price

It is open every day from 10:00 to 20:00; the ticket offices close half an hour earlier. It closes on 1 and 6 January, 25 July and 25 December, and on 24 and 31 December the last entry is at 14:00. General admission costs €9 and reduced €7 (large families, unemployed, students, accredited pilgrims, people with disabilities and over-65s); accompanied under-12s do not pay. It is valid for the same day and the following seven. The museum guide costs €5.

What to bear in mind

You enter through the museum reception on the Obradoiro or, from the basilica, through the Treasury door. Bags, backpacks, umbrellas and pilgrim staffs are not allowed, nor are animals except guide dogs, and you may not photograph in the rooms. Tickets are not refunded. It is a good plan for a rainy afternoon.

This ticket does not include the Portico of Glory or the roofs: for that there is the full visit (€23, reduced €19), or separately the cathedral roofs, which do include the museum. The basilica is free: see the Cathedral and Portico of Glory. With a guide, the guided visit to the cathedral and its museum takes in the choir, the library and the cloister.