The building itself, unfortunately, has disappeared. It was pulled down in 1524 to make room for the present superb edifice, designed by Juan de Alava, the fellow-workman of Hontañon, who was succeeded by four other architects, till the completion of the work in 1610. The church is accounted one of the two or three most important monuments of the middle Renaissance period in Spain. The main façade, in the soft sandstone usual here, exhibits a marvellous profusion of figures, ‘excellently wrought, beautiful of themselves,’ remarks a critic, ‘but lacking in appropriateness, and not forming a part of a comprehensive scheme.’ On each side of the doorway, between pillars, are seen the figures of four of the Dominican saints; above, between four similarly placed statues of the doctors of the church, is an admirable relief of the Martyrdom of St. Stephen, executed by Juan Ceroni of Milan, who has carved his name and the date (1610) on the stones which were the instruments of the saint’s death. Above this, again, is a Crucifixion, overshadowed by the great arch which encloses the whole façade. The medallions and friezes exhibit very careful and graceful workmanship. The side façades are mainly Gothic in character. Each buttress is surmounted by an ornate pinnacle. The nave is almost as spacious as that of the cathedral. The six-pointed vaults spring from fluted columns, and are brilliant with gilding. The windows of three lights and the rose-windows above are filled with good stained glass. The gorgeous retablo, which cost the Duke of Alba 4000 of his pine trees, is the work of Churriguera; its garishness is redeemed by the fine painting of the Martyrdom of St. Stephen by Claudio Coello, and the curious twelfth-century image of the Virgin de la Vega in gilt bronze. Over the choir, built by Bishop de Aranjo, is the fine Apotheosis of St. Dominic, a fresco by Palomino. The frescoes over the altar of the Rosary and in the chapel of the Cristo de la Luz are by his contemporary, Villamor. In the chapel of St. John is the tomb of Don Lope de Paz, the defender of Rhodes and Eubœa, and in a wooden urn in the Reliquary chapel are contained the ashes of the terror of the Low Countries, Fernando de Toledo, Duke of Alba. The chapter-house is a grandiose apartment, with pillars of the Doric order, and a Corinthian altar beneath a canopy. Here may be seen some bas-reliefs of the thirteenth century from the old church. In the magnificent sacristy is the tomb of Bishop Herrera of Tuy, who died in 1632, and is shown in a kneeling posture. More interesting is the cloister, with its early Renaissance arcading and fanwork vaulting. Some of the medallions and reliefs which adorn the cloister were designed by Alfonso Sardiña in 1626. The noble staircase adorned by a Magdalene, which was executed by order of the illustrious Dominican theologian, Fray Domingo Soto, of whom it was punningly said, ‘Qui scit Sotum, scit totum.’