We now turn our steps northwards that we may examine the Façade of the Azabacheria, which faces to the north, and is so called because the street of the jet-workers[141] leads up to it. Fernandez Sanchez describes this façade as “without a doubt the best of the modern works which surround the cathedral.” It was planned by the celebrated Spanish architect Ventura Rodriguez, and finished under the supervision of a local genius, Domingo Antonio Luis Montenegro, in 1758. It consists of two storeys: the lower one is of the Ionic order, the upper of the Doric. Each has four columns, while the lower one has a pillar in the centre, separating the two entrances and serving as a basement for a statue of Faith which is seen in the centre of the upper storey. The doors and windows have semicircular lintels of the pattern seen in hundreds of Italian churches of that period. Above these are the arms of the archbishops, medallions, and other military trophies. To crown all, there rises the figure of St. James [Illustration:THE SILVER ALTAR, WITH STATUE OF ST. JAMES, IN SANTIAGO CATHEDRAL] [Illustration: THE STONE COFFIN IN WHICH THE LOST BODY OF ST. JAMES WAS DISCOVERED IN 1879. IT HAD BEEN HIDDEN THERE IN 1589 WHEN SIR FRANCIS DRAKE ATTACKED CORUÑA] in pilgrim garb, with a king kneeling on either side of him. Alas, indeed, that so ordinary and uninteresting a piece of work should have replaced a façade that must have rivalled that of the _Platerias_ in its beauty and elegance! There still remains one more façade for us to study--the western one, called the Façade of the Obradoira, after the workshops of the goldsmiths that were once situated in the building to the right. Here we have what may be called the grand entrance to the cathedral. Eighteenth-century Italian steps in two winding flights with stone balustrades lead up to the double doorway, behind which is concealed the crowning glory of Galicia, the world-famed _Pórtico de Gloria_. On either side rise the great twin steeples, the lower portions of which date from the eleventh century and were part of the original Romanesque towers. “The only peculiarity about them,” wrote Street, “is the planning of the staircases. The steps are carried all round the steeples in the thickness of the walls, and the central space is made use of for a succession of small chambers one above the other. These staircases are unusually wide and good, and their mode of construction obviously very strong.”