The Cathedrals of Northern Spain Part 12

On the south side a cloister door corresponds to this last-named portal.

Though the latter is plateresque, cold and severe, the former is the richest of all the portals as regards sculptural details; the carving of the panels is also of the finest workmanship. Beside it, the southern front of the cathedral coincides perfectly with the northern; like the Puerta de la Plateria in Santiago, it is rendered somewhat insignificant by the cloister to the right and by the archbishop's palace to the left, between which it is reached by a paved series of terraces, for on this side the street is lower than the floor of the cathedral. The impression produced by this alley is grand and imposing, unique in Spain.

Neither is the situation of the temple exactly east and west, a rare circ.u.mstance in such a highly Catholic country like Spain. It is Roman cruciform in shape; the central nave contains both choir and high altar; the aisles are prolonged behind the latter in an ambulatory.

The lateral walls of the church, enlarged here and there to make room for chapels of different dimensions, give an irregular outline to the building which has been partly remedied by the free use of b.u.t.tresses, flying b.u.t.tresses, and pinnacles.

The first impression produced on the visitor standing in either of the aisles is that of size rather than beauty; a close examination, however, of the wealth of statues and tombs, and of the sculptural excellence of stone decoration, will draw from the tourist many an exclamation of wonder and delight. Further, the distribution of light is such as to render the interior of the temple gay rather than sombre; it is a pity, nevertheless, that the stained gla.s.ses of the sixteenth century see were all destroyed by a powder explosion in 1813, when the French soldiers demolished the castle.

The unusual height of the choir mars the ensemble of the interior; the stalls are lavishly carved, but do not inspire the same feeling of wonderful beauty as do those of Leon and Toledo, for instance; the _reja_ or grille which separates the choir from the transept is one of the finest pieces of work in the cathedral, and, though ma.s.sive, it is simple and elegant.

The _retablo_ of the high altar, richly gilt, is of the Renaissance period; the statues and groups which fill the niches are marvellously drawn and full of life. In the ambulatory, imbedded in the wall of the _trascoro_, there are six plaques in low relief; as sculptural work in stone they are unrivalled in the cathedral, and were carved, beyond a doubt, by the hand of a master. The _croisee_ and the Chapel of the Condestable are the two chief attractions of the cathedral church.

The last named chapel is an octagonal addition to the apse. Its walls from the exterior are seen to be richly sculptured and surmounted by a lantern, or windowed dome, surrounded by high pinnacles and spires placed on the angles of the polygon base. The _croisee_ is similar in structure, but, due to its greater height, appears even more slender and aerial. The towers with their _fleches_, together with these original octagonal lanterns with their pinnacles, lend an undescribable grace, elegance, and majesty to what would otherwise have been a rather unwieldy edifice.

The Chapel of the Condestable is separated from the ambulatory (in the interior of the temple) by a good grille of the sixteenth century, and by a profusely sculptured door. The windows above the altar are the only ones that retain painted panes of the sixteenth century. Among the other objects contained in this chapel--which is really a connoisseur's collection of art objects of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries--can be mentioned the two marvellously carved tombs of the Condestable and of his wife.

The _croisee_, on the other hand, has been called the "cathedral's cathedral." Gazing skyward from the centre of the transept into the high _cimborio_, and admiring the harmony of its details, the wealth of decorative elements, and the no less original structure of the dome, whose vault is formed by an immense star, one can understand the epithet applied to this majestic piece of work, a marvel of its kind.

Strange to say, the primitive cupola which crowned the _croisee_ fell down in the sixteenth century, the date also of Burgos's growing insignificance in political questions. Consequently, it was believed by many that the same fate produced both accidents, and that the downfall of the one necessarily involved the decadence of the other.

To conclude: The Gothic cathedral of Burgos is, with that of Leon and perhaps that of Sevilla, the one which expresses in a greater measure than any other on the peninsula the true ideal of ogival architecture.

Less airy, light, and graceful than that of Leon, it is, nevertheless, more Spanish, or in other words, more majestic, heavier, and more imposing as regards size and weight. From a sculptural point of view--stone sculpture--it is the first of all Spanish Gothic cathedrals, and ranks among the most elaborate and perfect in Europe.

VI

SANTANDER

The foundation of Santander is attributed to the Romans who baptized it Harbour of Victory. Its decadence after the Roman dominion seems to have been complete, and its name does not appear in the annals of Spanish history until in 1187, when Alfonso, eighth of that name and King of Castile, induced the repopulation of the deserted hamlet by giving it a special _fuero_ or privilege. At that time a monastery surrounded by a few miserable huts seems to have been all that was left of the Roman seaport; this monastery was dedicated to the martyr saints Emeterio and Celedonio, for it was, and still is, believed that they perished here, and not in Calahorra, as will be seen later on.

The name of the nascent city in the times of Alfonso VIII. was Sancti Emetrii, from that of the monastery or of the old town, but within a few years the new town eclipsed the former in importance and, being dedicated to St. Andrew, gave its name to the present city (San-t-Andres, Santander).

As a maritime town, Santander became connected with all the naval events undertaken by young Castile, and later by Philip II., against England.

Kings, princes, princess-consorts, and amba.s.sadors from foreign lands came by sea to Santander, and went from thence to Burgos and Valladolid; from Santander and the immediate seaports the fleet sailed which was to travel up the Guadalquivir and conquer Sevilla; in 1574 the Invincible Armada left the Bay of Biscay never to return, and from thence on until now, Santander has ever remained the most important Spanish seaport on the Cantabric Sea.

Its ecclesiastical history is uninteresting--or, rather, the city possesses no ecclesiastical past; perhaps that is one of the causes of its flourishing state to-day. In the thirteenth century the monastical Church of San Emeterio was raised to a collegiate and in 1775 to a bishopric.

The same unimportance, from an art point of view, attaches itself to the cathedral church. No one visits the city for the sake of the heavy, clumsy, and exceedingly irregularly built temple which stands on the highest part of the town. On the contrary, the great attraction is the fine beach of the Sardinero which lies to the west of the industrial town, and is, in summer, the Brighton of Spain. The coast-line, deeply dentated and backed by the Cantabric Mountains, is far more delightful and attractive than the Gothic cathedral structure of the thirteenth century.

Consequently, little need be said about it. In the interior, the height of the nave and aisles, rendered more p.r.o.nounced by the pointed ogival arches, gives the building a somewhat aerial appearance that is belied by the view from without.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CRYPT OF SANTANDER CATHEDRAL]

The square tower on the western end is undermined by a gallery or tunnel through which the Calle de Puente pa.s.ses. To the right of the same, and reached by a flight of steps, stands the entrance to the crypt, which is used to-day as a most unhealthy parish church. This crypt of the late twelfth century or early thirteenth shows a decided Romanesque tendency in its general appearance: it is low, ma.s.sive, strong, and crowned by a semicircular vaulting reposing on gigantic pillars whose capitals are roughly sculptured. The windows which let in the little light that enters are ogival, proving the Transition period to which the crypt belongs; it was originally intended as the pantheon for the abbots of the monastery. But unlike the Galician Romanesque, it lacks an individual _cachet_; if it resembles anything it is the pantheon of the kings in San Isidoro in Leon, though in point of view of beauty, the two cannot be compared.

The form of the crypt is that of a perfect Romanesque basilica, a nave and two aisles terminating a three-lobed apse.

In the cathedral, properly speaking, there is a baptismal font of marble, bearing an Arabic inscription by way of upper frieze; it is square, and of Moorish workmanship, and doubtless was brought from Cordoba after the reconquest. Its primitive use had been practical, for in Andalusia it stood at the entrance to some mezquita, and in its limpid waters the disciples of Mahomet performed their hygienic and religious ablutions.

VII

VITORIA

If the foreigner enter Spain by Irun, the first cathedral town on his way south is Vitoria.

Gazteiz seems to have been its Basque name prior to 1181, when it was enlarged by Don Sancho of Navarra and was given a _fuero_ or privilege, together with its new name, chosen to commemorate a victory obtained by the king over his rival, Alfonso of Castile.

Fortune did not smile for any length of time on Don Sancho, for seventeen years later Alfonso VIII. incorporated the city in his kingdom of Castile, and it was lost for ever to Navarra.

As regards the celebrated _fueros_ given by the last named monarch to the inhabitants of the city, a curious custom was in vogue in the city until a few years ago, when the Basque Provinces finally lost the privileges they had fought for during centuries.

When Alfonso VIII. granted these privileges, he told the citizens they were to conserve them "as long as the waters of the Zadorria flowed into the Ebro."

The Zadorria is the river upon which Vitoria is situated; about two miles up the river there is a historical village, Arriago, and a no less historical bridge. Hither, then, every year on St. John's Day, the inhabitants of Vitoria came in procession, headed by the munic.i.p.al authorities, the bishop and clergy, the clerk of the town hall, and the sheriff. The latter on his steed waded into the waters of the Zadorria, and threw a letter into the stream; it flowed with the current toward the Ebro River. An act was then drawn up by the clerk, signed by the mayor and the sheriff, testifying that the "waters of the Zadorria flowed into the Ebro."

To-day the waters still flow into the Ebro, but the procession does not take place, and the city's _fueros_ are no more.

In the reign of Isabel the Catholic, the Church of St. Mary was raised to a Colegiata, and it is only quite recently, according to the latest treaty between Spain and Rome, that an episcopal see has been established in the city of Vitoria.

Doc.u.ments that have been discovered state that in 1281--a hundred years after the city had been newly baptized--the princ.i.p.al temple was a church and castle combined; in the fourteenth century this was completely torn down to make room for the new building, a modest ogival church of little or no merit.

The tower is of a later date than the body of the cathedral, as is easily seen by the triangular pediments which crown the square windows: it is composed of three bodies, as is generally the case in Spain, the first of which is square in its cross-section, possessing four turrets which crown the angles; the second body is octagonal and the third is in the form of a pyramid terminating in a spire.

The portal is cut into the base of the tower. It is the handsomest front of the building, though in a rather dilapidated state; the sculptural decorations of the three arches, as well as the aerial reliefs of the tympanum, are true to the period in which they were conceived.

The sacristy encloses a primitive wooden effigy of the Virgin; it is of greater historic than artistic value. There is also a famous picture attributed now to Van Dyck, now to Murillo; it represents Christ in the arms of his mother, and Mary Magdalene weeping on her knees beside the princ.i.p.al group. The picture is known by the name of Piety or La Piedad.

The high altar, instead of being placed to the east of the transept, as is generally the case, is set beneath the _croisee_, in the circular area formed by the intersection of nave and transept. The view of the interior is therefore completely obstructed, no matter where the spectator stands.

VIII

UPPER RIOJA

To the south of Navarra and about a hundred miles to the west of Burgos, the Ebro River flows through a fertile vale called the Rioja, famous for its claret. It is little frequented by strangers or tourists, and yet it is well worth a visit. The train runs down the Ebro valley from Miranda to Saragosse. A hilly country to the north and south, well wooded and gently sloping like the Jura; nearer, and along the banks of the stream, _huertas_ or orchards, gardens, and vineyards offer a pleasant contrast to the distant landscape, and produce a favourable impression, especially when a village or town with its square, ma.s.sive church-tower peeps forth from out of the foliage of fruit-trees and elms.

Such is Upper Rioja--one of the prettiest spots in Spain, the Touraine, one might almost say, of Iberia, a circular region of about twenty-five miles in radius, containing four cities, Logrono, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, Najera, and Calahorra.

The Roman military road from Tarragon to Astorga pa.s.sed through the Rioja, and Calahorra, a Celtiberian stronghold slightly to the south, was conquered by the invaders after as st.u.r.dy a resistance as that of Numantia itself. It was not totally destroyed by the conquering Romans as happened in the last named town; on the contrary, it grew to be the most important fortress between Leon and Saragosse.