Leon, Burgos and Salamanca: a historical and descriptive account

by Albert Frederick Calvert

The New Cathedral

It may be presumed that the faithful of Salamanca had suffered for a number of years on account of the smallness of their cathedral; for the demand for a new place of worship is not traceable to any immediate or special cause, nor to any particular individual. At the instance of the bishop and the municipality, Fernando and Isabel, in the year 1491, solicited and obtained from Pope Innocent VIII. authority to erect a new cathedral at Salamanca, on the ground that the old fabric no longer sufficed for the needs of the congregation.

The city was then nearing the zenith of its prosperity, and all over Western Europe there was a craving for the pompous, the magnificent, and the merely big. We can imagine that the Salamancans of the new era were impatient of the plainness and masculine vigour of the little cathedral of Jeronimo. The chapter spared no pains to raise an edifice which should be as splendid as any in Spain. Nothing, however, was done till 1510, when the matter was placed in the hands of the two most celebrated architects of the kingdom, Antonio Egas, architect of the cathedral of Toledo, and Alfonso Rodrigues, master of the works at Seville. These two masters could not agree as to certain details in the plans, and the bishop Francisco de Bobadilla, son of Queen Isabel’s favourite Beatriz, summoned the nine most eminent architects of Spain to a conference. These were—Antonio Egas, Juan Gil de Hontañon, Juan de Badajoz, Alfonso de Covarrubias, Juan Tornero, Juan de Alava, Rodrigo de Zaravia, Juan Campero, and Rodrigues, who had by this time gone to the island of Santo Domingo. At this conference, held on September 3, 1512, the plan and proportions of the proposed building were decided, Juan Gil de Hontañon was appointed architect, and Juan Campero clerk of the works. The project being so far advanced, liberal donations poured in from the municipality and the citizens, and at last the foundation-stone was laid, as the inscription at the right-hand corner of the main façade records, on Thursday, May 12, 1513. De Hontañon was engaged at Seville rebuilding the dome of the cathedral, but under his occasional supervision and that of his assistant, Juan de Alava, the work was actively carried on. De Hontañon died in 1531, and was succeeded in his office by his assistant; and in 1560, his son Rodrigo being then architect, the cathedral was opened for divine worship, the event being thus commemorated on a tablet: Pio IIII. papa, Philippo II. rege, Francisco Manrico de Lara episcopo, ex vetere ad hoc templum facta translatio XXV. mort. anno à Christo nato MDLX.

The cathedral exhibits the transition from late Gothic to Renaissance. It is certainly constructed on very ambitious lines, and is not wanting in majesty, though that fervent lover of the Gothic, Mr. Street, declared the planning to be infelicitous and the detail throughout of the very poorest kind. The favourable impression the interior produces is almost entirely due to its spaciousness. The ground plan forms a rectangle, 195 feet long by 198 feet wide. On the south side it is built against the old cathedral, with which it communicates by a flight of eighteen steps. The western or principal façade is the oldest part of the building, and, as might be expected, is in the Gothic style, with hardly any admixture of the plateresque. The three entrances are recessed within graceful arches, and separated by massive buttresses adorned with statuary. The main entrance has two doors, separated by a pillar on which is a beautiful figure of the Virgin. Immediately above the doorway are two very fine reliefs of the Nativity and the Adoration of the Magi. These are contained within semicircular arches, which are in turn contained within a bewildering series of arches, rounded, elliptical, and pointed, all elaborately moulded and ornamented with animals, putti, and heraldic achievements. The vertex of the outermost of these arches upholds a vigorous relief of the Crucifixion, flanked by the Apostles Peter and Paul. Hardly a square foot has been left free of decoration, and the whole is overwrought and florid, though the rich cream colour of the stone in itself produces a pleasing effect. The side doors are much less elaborate, though designed on the same plan, and appear to have been intended to receive more statuary and ornament. The tower above is one of the few creditable performances of Churriguera—a native of Salamanca. The noble steeple to the right was part of the old cathedral, but was recast in the sixteenth century. It forms a landmark for travellers in the dreary country round the city.

On the north side of the church is the fine Puerta de las Palmas, which probably derives its name from the fine relief representing the entry of Christ into Jerusalem. The exterior of the cathedral generally suffers from comparison with the older structure at its side.

The interior consists of a nave and two aisles. The centre of the nave is occupied by the choir, which is connected, as is usual in Spanish churches, with the Capilla Mayor by a railed-in passage. There are no projecting transept arms. Over the crossing is a lantern with a half-orange dome, eight windows between Corinthian columns, and a superabundance of ornamentation, which only too well announces this to be the handiwork of Churriguera. The nave is higher than the aisles. Both are pierced with windows, made intentionally small to exclude the light. In front of these runs a pierced balustrade of very Renaissance character, below which is a charming frieze in the older style, with cherubs and animals peeping through foliage. The piers that support the roof have their capitals painted in blue and gold. Above certain of the arches is displayed the Vase of Lilies with the Angelic Salutation, adopted as its arms by the chapter; above others the medallions with busts so common in the architecture of this period.

The Capilla Mayor still lacks the retablo which it is proposed one day to set up, and is backed by hangings and a canopy over the statue of the Virgin. In the sanctuary are the silver urns containing the remains of Saints Juan de Sahagun and Tomas de Villanueva; further back in the Capilla del Carmen the tomb of Bishop Jeronimo, transported here from the old cathedral in 1744, together with the famous Cristo de las Batallas, the crude black image carried by the Cid with him on all his expeditions. It must be confessed that few Spanish cathedrals contain a less remarkable Capilla Mayor than this one.

Nor is the choir specially remarkable, except as a specimen of Churriguera’s decorative frenzy. The stalls are carved with the figures of saints, full-length and half-length, in very stagy poses, though the boy-martyrs, Justus and Pastor, are, it must be confessed, very well executed. Wherever space permitted, cherubs, floral scrolls, and all sorts of decorative patterns have been put in. The trascoro or altar at the rear of the choir surpasses the latter in the extravagance of its style. The Eternal Father, accompanied by angels, apostles, and prophets, may be seen amidst a profusion of clouds and foliage. The statues of St. Anne and St. John the Baptist obviously belong to an earlier period and a better school. They are attributed by Ponz to Juan de Juni, who was responsible for much of the ornamentation over the main entrance.

The chapels are all square and of the same height and size—twenty-eight feet square and fifty-four feet high. They are all decorated in the Gothic style, a uniformity which suggests that they were all built at the same time, or very carefully copied from the first one planned. Each contains a semicircular window, and four arched recesses for tombs. This regularity of style has operated to some extent as a check upon the excesses of the Churrigueresque school. The Golden Chapel—the second in the south aisle—dates from the sixteenth century. All within it is superbly gilded, the decoration reflecting credit on its author, Canon Francisco Sanchez de Palencia, whose noble tomb is here. His dignities are set forth on the beautiful plateresque reja. The chapel also contains a notable skeleton or memento mori. The next chapel is called after the Presidente de Lievana, and is adorned with some good paintings by the dumb artist Navarrete, particularly by a copy of Titian’s ‘Deposition.’ The fourth chapel on this side contains the good statue of a very good man, Canon Palacios, who died in the odour of sanctity in the year 1591. We may now descend to the old cathedral by a doorway on the right, close to a fine picture of the Madonna and Child and St. John, by Morales. The monuments of Count Raymond and Doña Urraca must have been destroyed to make room for this part of the new building. Good paintings by Gallego may be seen in the Capilla de San Antonio on the opposite side of the church. There are not many good tombs, the only ones remaining to be mentioned being those of the Bishops Corrionero (1620), Felipe Beltran (1783), and Agustino Varela (nineteenth century).

The sacristy is a gorgeous apartment, where mirrors, gilding, and ornamentation of every style are combined to produce a not altogether unpleasing effect. The treasury is rich in relics of doubtful authenticity. The silver reliquaries were once the property of the Knights Templars, whose cause Salamanca long upheld. Here you may gaze (with a befittingly credulous air) upon three thorns from Christ’s crown, a piece of the true cross, an arm of St. George, St. Lawrence’s shoulder, the head of one of the eleven thousand virgins who escorted St. Ursula, the hearts of St. Bartholomew and St. Sebastian, and the bodies of five Spanish martyrs who suffered under the Vandals. More interesting are a letter in St. Teresa’s handwriting, and a small crucifix of blackened bronze, often confounded with the Cristo de las Batallas, and probably of the same period and source. The chalice, monstrance, and other sacred vessels are beautifully wrought, even for a country where metal-working has been carried almost to perfection.