The eastern end, or chevet, projects beyond the city wall, which forms
the eastern boundary of the adjacent cloister. The transept, if that
term may be applied to the whole space between the Capilla Mayor and
Coro, is of unusual breadth, and may be said to include a nave, two
aisles to the east and one to the west. North and south it projects but
slightly beyond the nave. The west front is flanked by two steeples,
which stand on each side of, and do not terminate, the aisles. They are
heavier than the rest of the structure, and of different heights and
ages. Ugly, too, is the empty space left between their side walls and
those of the clerestory over the main entrance. The northern steeple is
the older, lower, and simpler; it is surmounted by a spire with a vane.
The other tower is more ornate, and contains the belfry. Its traceries
are in a debased Gothic style.
The façade between these steeples is very beautiful. It is surmounted by
a pediment with ‘acroteria’ or pedestals to receive statues. Beneath
this is a very large wheel-window above a row of windows corresponding
to the triforium. The three magnificently sculptured doorways extend
from steeple to steeple. The arches are pointed and triple. Byzantine
influence is visible in the statuary and foliage. The figures, forty in
number, are rather more than life-size, and represent saints and
apostles, martyrs and confessors, kings and queens. On the north-west
doorway is seen the half-defaced figure of Justice, bearing a sword
inscribed with the words ‘Justitia est unicuique dare quod suum est.’
Beneath this portal cases of appeal were tried in the thirteenth
century. A small column between this and the central doorway is engraved
with the words _locus appellationis_ and the arms of Leon and Castile.
The tympanum of the arch is adorned with reliefs, illustrating the
earlier episodes in the life of Jesus. The doors themselves show scenes
from the Passion and Risen Life.
The central shaft of the middle door is disfigured with a dressed-up
image of the Virgin enclosed in glass. The sculpture of the tympanum is
spirited and elaborate. In a composition depicting the Last Judgment
devils are seen stirring their fires and plunging the reprobate into
seething cauldrons. On the side of the blessed a young man extracts
cheering music from what is perhaps a harmonium. The attitudes of the
just express the liveliest satisfaction, whereas a crowned personage,
striding boldly into Paradise, is met and warned off by a celestial
Janitor. The naïve and fantastically horrible are curiously blended in
this skilful work. The southern doorway is the least interesting of the
three; the subjects of the reliefs are the death and coronation of the
Virgin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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