Some Account of Gothic Architecture in SpainStreet, George Edmund
History
Some Account of Gothic Architecture in Spain
Street, George Edmund
Architecture, Gothic -- Spain; Church architecture -- Spain
W. West, Lithr.
Published by John Murray, Albemarle Street 1865.]
The western doorway has a circular arch, with rudely carved foliage in
the outer orders; and ten angels, with our Lord giving His blessing in
the centre, in the inner order. The tympanum has the Adoration of the
Magi. The abaci and capitals are carved, but everywhere the carving is
overlaid with whitewash so thickly as to be not very intelligible. The
south door has storied capitals, and angels under the corbels, which
support the tympanum over the door-opening; this has a figure with a
pilgrim’s staff, probably Santiago, and there are other figures and
foliage in the arch. The abacus is carried round the buttresses, and a
bold arch is thrown across between them above the door. An original
window near this door is a mere slit in the wall, and not intended for
glazing. The north door is somewhat similar to the other, with a
sculpture of St. Katharine in the tympanum.
The apse has a very small east window, engaged columns dividing it into
three bays, and a simple corbel-table.
[Illustration: Sta. Maria, la Coruña.]
The west front is quaint and picturesque. It has a bold porch--now
almost built up by modern erections--and two small square towers or
turrets at the angles. Of these the south-western has a low, square
stone spire, springing from within a traceried parapet, and with some
very quaint crockets at the angles. A tall cross, with an original
sculpture of the Crucifixion, stands in the little Plaza in front of the
church. The Coro here is in a large western gallery, but both this and
the stalls are Renaissance in style.
The other church is that of Santiago. This has a broad nave, forty-four
feet wide, into the east wall of which three small apses open.[139] The
nave is divided into four bays by bold cross arches, which carry the
wooden roof; and of the three eastern arches, the central rises high
above the others, and has a circular window above it. The west front has
a very fine doorway, set in a projecting portion of the wall, finished
with a corbel-table and cornice at the top. This has a figure of
Santiago in the tympanum, and statues in the jambs. The north doorway
has heads of oxen supporting the lintel, and rude carving of foliage in
the arch. One of the original windows remains in the north wall. This is
roundheaded and very narrow, but has good jamb-shafts and
arch-mouldings. The detail of the eastern apse is of bold and simple
Romanesque character, with engaged shafts supporting the eaves-cornice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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