The Capilla Mayor, or High Chapel, occupies the eastern end of the nave, the aisles sweeping round behind it. The hinder portion was originally the Capilla de los Reyes Viejos, the chapel in which were entombed Sancho el Bravo, Sancho el Deseado, Alfonso VII., and others. In the year 1498 the two chapels were thrown into one by Cardinal Cisneros, who left the royal tombs for a time undisturbed. The High Chapel, according to O’Shea, measures 56 feet in length, 50 feet in breadth, and 116 feet in height. The piers are sculptured with the effigies of kings, prelates, and saints, and with “a multitude of angels playing on different instruments, and with outspread wings, that want but incense to raise them again from the spot where they have alighted.” The walls of the chapel are pierced or of open-work, the stone in parts being almost transparent, and thus adding to the brightness of the effect. Two rows of statuary enhance the beauty of the stonework, which is among the earliest portions of the fabric. But these walls, for all their magnificence, are put in the shade by the superb reja or railing, facing that of the Choir, and contemporary with it. This work is thus described by Señor Riaño: ‘The reja is 42 feet wide by 19 inches high; it rests on a pediment of marble ornamented with masks and bronze work upon which rises the reja, which is divided horizontally by means of a frieze of ornamentation, and this again vertically into five compartments. In each vertical division there is a pilaster of four sides formed of _repoussé_ plates, carved with a fine ornamentation in the Renaissance style; this is again terminated with life-size figures in high relief of bronze. The second compartment rises upon the band which divides it in a horizontal sense; it follows the same decoration in its pilasters, and is terminated by a series of coats of arms, torches, angels, and a variety of foliage which finishes the upper part. Upon the centre, hanging from a thick chain, supported from the roof, is suspended a life-size Rood of admirable effect, which completes the decoration. In several spots there are labels with mottoes in Latin; in one of them appears the following inscription, and the date of 1548, when the splendid work was finished: ‘Anno MDXLVIII. Paul III. P.M. Carol. V. Imper. Rege. Joannes Martinez Siliccus Archiepiscopus Tolet. Hispaniae Primat.’ The railings of the reja are silvered, and the reliefs and salient points gilt. The artist who made it was Francisco Villalpando, a native of Valladolid; this model was chosen in preference to those of several artists, who presented their plans in competition before the ecclesiastical authorities; it is calculated that ten years elapsed before it was finally finished, Villalpando was greatly distinguished likewise as a sculptor and architect.” By him are the gilt pulpits in the plateresque style, made from the bronze tomb that the Great Constable, De Luna, had caused to be designed for himself.