The interior consists of a nave and two aisles. The centre of the nave
is occupied by the choir, which is connected, as is usual in Spanish
churches, with the Capilla Mayor by a railed-in passage. There are no
projecting transept arms. Over the crossing is a lantern with a
half-orange dome, eight windows between Corinthian columns, and a
superabundance of ornamentation, which only too well announces this to
be the handiwork of Churriguera. The nave is higher than the aisles.
Both are pierced with windows, made intentionally small to exclude the
light. In front of these runs a pierced balustrade of very Renaissance
character, below which is a charming frieze in the older style, with
cherubs and animals peeping through foliage. The piers that support the
roof have their capitals painted in blue and gold. Above certain of the
arches is displayed the Vase of Lilies with the Angelic Salutation,
adopted as its arms by the chapter; above others the medallions with
busts so common in the architecture of this period.
The Capilla Mayor still lacks the retablo which it is proposed one day
to set up, and is backed by hangings and a canopy over the statue of the
Virgin. In the sanctuary are the silver urns containing the remains of
Saints Juan de Sahagun and Tomas de Villanueva; further back in the
Capilla del Carmen the tomb of Bishop Jeronimo, transported here from
the old cathedral in 1744, together with the famous Cristo de las
Batallas, the crude black image carried by the Cid with him on all his
expeditions. It must be confessed that few Spanish cathedrals contain a
less remarkable Capilla Mayor than this one.
Nor is the choir specially remarkable, except as a specimen of
Churriguera’s decorative frenzy. The stalls are carved with the figures
of saints, full-length and half-length, in very stagy poses, though the
boy-martyrs, Justus and Pastor, are, it must be confessed, very well
executed. Wherever space permitted, cherubs, floral scrolls, and all
sorts of decorative patterns have been put in. The _trascoro_ or altar
at the rear of the choir surpasses the latter in the extravagance of its
style. The Eternal Father, accompanied by angels, apostles, and
prophets, may be seen amidst a profusion of clouds and foliage. The
statues of St. Anne and St. John the Baptist obviously belong to an
earlier period and a better school. They are attributed by Ponz to Juan
de Juni, who was responsible for much of the ornamentation over the
main entrance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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