Since 1088 the main church of Toledo has been recognised as the primate cathedral over all others within the kingdom. It was therefore necessary for it to have a worthy see, once the direct danger of Muslim invasions had receded after the Christian victory at Navas de Tolosa in 1212. It occupies a place that appears always to have been sacred, it being on the site of the relocated main mosque, the Visigoth cathedral replacing it, possibly built on top of an earlier one.
The construction of the current building began in 1226, the archbishop being Jiménez de Rada and during the reign of Fernando III “the Saint”. The names of the earliest architects are known: Martín, responsible for the French gothic style plans and his successor, Petrus Petri. The temple base is a Latin cross, called a hall, because of being included in the rectangular plan. The elevation marks the cross, creating a vertical triangular shape since the central nave and the transept are much wider and higher than the side naves, the exterior naves being the lowest.