Opening on to the southern aisle, opposite the Capilla de Santa Tecla,
is the cruciform chapel of the Santisimo Cristo de la Agonia, containing
a very ancient, curious, and (it is alleged) miraculous image of Christ.
It is supposed to have been carved by the fearful Nicodemus, and to have
been afterwards found floating in a boat on the sea. It is a grotesque
and yet a weird and impressive object, dressed up after the ridiculous
custom in Spain.
The chapel of the Presentation was founded in 1519 by the Canon Gonzalo
de Lerma, whose noble tomb in the centre of the chapel was executed
during his lifetime by Vigarni. Another fine tomb is here--that of Canon
Jacubo de Bilbao. This chapel possesses a beautiful Virgin and Child
painted on a panel, probably by Sebastiano del Piombo, and sculptures by
Berruguete. The railing is another example of Andino’s craftsmanship.
In the chapel of San Juan de Sahagun are preserved the relics of the
saint, who was a canon of Burgos. Here are also numerous other relics,
chiefly fragments of the bodies of sainted personages, among them two
local martyrs, Centola and Helena. The image of the Virgin of Oca is
fabled to have testified by a nod to the promise of marriage made by a
faithless Don Juan to a damsel--a silly story also told of the Cristo de
la Vega at Toledo. Simon, the last Bishop of Oca, is buried in this
chapel, and also the Blessed Lesmes, who is invoked by sufferers from
nephritic disorders. More interesting than any of these things is the
Cristo de la Agonia, a painting signed by El Greco.
In the chapel of the Visitation is the handsome tomb of the founder, the
Bishop de Cartagena; and in the seventeenth-century chapel of San
Enrique repose the remains of the bishops of Oca, and those of the
founder, Bishop Peralta--contained in a beautiful tomb of alabaster,
beneath a superb kneeling effigy in bronze. Of alabaster is also the
beautiful flooring of the chapel; and of bronze, the fine eagle lectern.
We now reach the sacristy, a great part of which is in the bad style of
the eighteenth century. There is some good carving, which, indeed, is
not rare in Spain; but the pictures ascribed to Murillo and other
masters are all very doubtful. A jasper table is among the most
interesting objects. We complete the circuit of the church by a visit to
the large chapel of Santiago, designed in the sixteenth century by Juan
de Vallejo. It is considered to be the parish church of Burgos. The
Apostle of Spain is shown on horseback on the high altar, and again on
the beautiful _reja_. Here lies the Abbot of San Quirce, one of the
Velasco family, beneath a tomb worthy of his illustrious ancestry. Not
far off is the sarcophagus of the Astudillos, one of whom was the
founder of the chapel of the Three Kings at Cologne. There are other
interesting tombs in this chapel, among the oldest being that of Bishop
de Villacreces, who died in 1463.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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