The Cathedral of Santa María, also known as the Primate Cathedral of Spain, is a Catholic temple of Gothic architecture in Toledo, considered by some to be the opus magnum1 of this style in Spain. Its construction began in 1226 under the reign of Ferdinand III the Saint and the last Gothic contributions were made in the 15th century when the vaults at the foot of the central nave were closed in 1493, during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs. It is built with white stone from Olihuelas (in the municipality of Olías del Rey).

It is popularly known as Dives Toletana (in the sense of the rich Toledo).a It is the seat of the Archdiocese of Toledo.

For many years, unwritten popular tradition has told that there was a first temple in this same place where the present cathedral is located at the time of the first bishop Eugenio. This temple was consecrated for the second time in 587, after having undergone some alterations.

The city had been the bishop's see of Visigothic Hispania. The numerous Councils of Toledo bear witness to its important ecclesiastical past. Recaredo's abjuration of Arianism had also had its place and time here. The Muslim invasion did not immediately eliminate the Christian imprint and the bishopric was moved and established in the church of Santa María de Alfizén.

It is believed that the Visigothic bishop's building was transformed once again to become the main mosque of the city of Toledo. Some researchers suggest that the prayer hall of the mosque corresponds to the body of the five naves of the present-day cathedral: the sahn (or courtyard) would coincide with part of the present-day cloister and the chapel of San Pedro, and the minaret with the bell tower. Among the current archaeological evidence, it is possible to observe some traces of Muslim construction: an Islamic column embedded inside the chapel of Santa Lucía; the marble shafts that adorn the exterior of the choir are an outgrowth of an ancient Muslim construction; the interlaced arches in the Caliphate style in the triforium of the main chapel and in the ambulatory coincide with the Muslim building tradition in Córdoba, although their structure is evidently of Christian design.