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
Not a little of the grand effect of the interior is owing to the rich
stained glass with which all, or nearly all, the windows are filled. It
is all, of course, of the very latest kind, and poor in much of its
design; yet nevertheless it is often magnificent in colour, and in this
respect quite beyond anything that most of our artists in glass seem to
me to accomplish nowadays. The Coro is here--and probably was from the
first--in the nave; but there is nothing either in its fittings or in
those of the Capilla mayor which struck me as worthy of note. The detail
of the central dome is quite Pagan, and here and there throughout the
work little indications of the same spirit peep out, and show how narrow
was the escape which the whole church had of being from first to last
executed in the Renaissance style.
With all its faults this church has grand points: this every one will
allow who has seen it rising in a noble pyramidal mass above the houses
of the town from the open space in front of the Alcazar, from whence all
its parts are seen to great advantage. Of the other subordinate
buildings I need not say much. The canon, whose account I give in the
Appendix, is much more enthusiastic about them than I was, for in truth
they are cold and tame in design and meagre in detail; and wanting the
effect of height and colour of the interior of the cathedral, want all
that makes it so striking. I saw no great, if any, difference of style
between the cloisters and the church; but they were the cloisters of the
old church, and were removed here by a contract entered into by one Juan
de Campero in 1524. Campero was one of the architects consulted as to
the rebuilding of Salamanca Cathedral, and was evidently a mason or
builder as well as an architect. I was not aware of the history of the
cloister when I was at Segovia, and I did not notice any evidence of the
work having been rebuilt and added to in the way described.
The cathedral is the largest and most important, but at the same time
the most modern mediæval building in Segovia; whilst, on the contrary,
one of the smallest, the church of the Templars, is also one of the most
ancient and curious; it is situated by the roadside just out of the
city, on its north-west side, and below the great rock which is crowned
by the Alcazar. The date of its consecration in A.D. 1208 is given by an
inscription which still remains in the interior, and which has been
incorrectly given by Cean Bermudez. It is as follows:--
Hæc sacra fundantes cœlesti sede locentur;
Atque suberrantes in eadem consocientur.
Dedicatio ecclesiæ beati Sepulchri Xrti
Idus Aprilis Era MCCXLVI. +.
[Illustration: No. 24.
SEGOVIA p. 184.
INTERIOR OF THE TEMPLARS CHURCH LOOKING N E.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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