Among the characteristic features of Spanish cathedrals are: the occasional use of cloisters; the excess of width in proportion to the length; the use of a _cimborio_ or lantern over the crossing; the placing of the choir or _coro_ west of the chancel, so that it occupies the centre of the edifice and with its high enclosures blocks the vistas in all directions; an elaborate treatment of the vaulting, prompted by decorative rather than structural considerations, and a general tendency, especially in the later work, toward excessive embellishment. The largest cathedral in Spain, the largest, indeed, of all mediæval cathedrals, is =Seville=, which was erected on the site of a mosque. It has four side aisles, each of which corresponds in height and width to the nave of Westminster Abbey, yet the length of its nave is little more than that of the latter’s. =Toledo=, again, has four aisles and a nave, recalling the plan of Bourges, which it follows in length, though it is wider by fifty feet. =Retablos, Rejas.=--Among the distinctive features of the interior decorations of a Spanish cathedral are the _retablo_ and _reja_. The former, a reredos, erected behind the great altar, reaches immense dimensions, often occupying the full width of the nave and rising as high as the vaulting, embellished with sculpture. This is apt to be grossly naturalistic and violently dramatic or sensational, representing colossal figures, sprawling amid marble clouds and sunrays of gilded metal. Far more beautiful are the _rejas_ or lofty grill-screens, upon which the skill of Moorish metal-workers or the skill derived from their traditions, is lavished with extraordinary fertility of design; a special device being the enrichment of the vertical bars by the insertion of canopied figures. CHAPTER VI GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN ITALY We have already noted that the rib-vault, which made possible the development of Gothic architecture in the Ile de France, originated in Lombardy. But the Italian builders used the rib solely as a structural convenience, not recognising either its further structural or its æsthetic possibilities. Accordingly, when the Gothic style appeared in Italy, it was imported thither by northern, usually German, architects.