Crossing the wide transept we reach the choir, which occupies three bays
of the nave. Under the eastern lectern lies the effigy--of wood cased in
bronze--of the English Bishop Maurice, a fine work believed to date from
1260. The stalls, one hundred and three in number, were executed between
1497 and 1512 by Felipe Vigarni, and bestowed on the cathedral by Bishop
Pascual de Fuensanta. They are of walnut wood, and in two tiers--all
most richly carved in fine Renaissance style, the pillars between being
moulded in similar fashion. The lower seats are, on the whole, the finer
work, and are inlaid in boxwood. The subjects of the reliefs are taken
from the acts of the saints and life of the Virgin. Scenes from Genesis
form the subject of the reliefs on the fronts of the upper stalls, the
backs illustrating the New Testament. The trascoro, or screen at the
west end of the choir, cost ten thousand ducats. The _reja_ displays the
arms of Cardinal Zapata, whose gift it was; the pillars which support it
rise from pedestals of jasper, and on brackets are placed two white
marble statues of Saints Peter and Paul. These statues, columns,
reliefs, etc., were executed at the expense of Archbishop Manso de
Zuñiga, in the first half of the seventeenth century, by Fray Juan de
Rici of the Order of St. Benedict.
The grand chapel of the Constable (Capilla del Condestable), behind the
high altar at the east end of the church, was built about 1487 by Don
Pedro Fernandez de Velasco, Conde de Haro, and Lord High Constable of
Castile, the property of whose descendant, the Duque de Frias, it
remains to-day. The architect was Juan de Colonia (John of Cologne) or,
as some will have it, his son Simon. Street sees much that is German in
the style of the chapel, but also features which may be fairly
attributed to the Spaniards who worked under the architect’s orders, or
to his own efforts to consult native tastes. While the chapel may be
described as florid Gothic, the splendid entrance arch, with its
marvellous lacelike tracery, tapering pinnacles, and railing, the
masterpiece of Andino, belongs to the Renaissance. The chapel is lighted
by fourteen stained-glass windows, displaying the arms of the Velascos,
which are repeated on four large stone escutcheons on the walls. The
retablo of the high altar, believed to be by Juan de Borgoña, has, in
its lower stage, a spirited sculpture of the Purification. Before the
altar are the noble tombs of the Constable and his wife, Doña Mencia de
Mendoza, Condesa de Haro. The effigies are of Carrara marble, the tombs
of jasper. The Constable is shown in complete armour, the details of
which are admirably rendered and merit close study. At the feet of the
Countess is crouched a dog, the emblem of fidelity. This great seigneur
of old Spain and his consort are interred in the vault beneath their
monuments. Close to the monument is a huge oblong slab of polished
jasper from the quarries of Atapuerca, weighing thirty-three tons, and
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