THE BED OF SAN MAMED, NOYA
CLOISTER OF SAN JUSTO DE TOJOSUTOS, NOYA
of the country. A wide nave covered with a roof of wood offered no difficulties as to equilibrium; we find it in some of the ancient architecture of Syria; and in the Middle Ages it was introduced, as Lamperez reminds us, both in the churches of Languedoc and in those of Catalonia and Valencia. Galicia was very slow to adopt the Gothic style; she clung to the older ones, the Byzantine and the Romanesque, long after these had been completely abandoned in other parts of Spain, and the consequence is that she does not possess a single edifice that may be termed a good example of the Gothic style. There is no province, however, in which the travellers will find a more favourable opportunity of studying the period of Transition.
Outwardly the church of San Martin appears to be of a very much earlier date than that which is inscribed upon the lintel of the principal entrance. It has a heavy, square, fortress-like look, and its lofty apse is castellated, evidently with a view to its adaptability as a fort in times of warfare. Here again we see how circumstances—the imminent possibility of Noya having to defend herself against insurgents, had a greater effect on the mind of the architect than any consideration as to what the laws of the pure Gothic might demand. Noya was perhaps the most important town in the feudal territory of the fighting archbishops of Santiago, and being a centre of considerable mercantile wealth, she was only too likely to invite attack, which might come either from the sea or the land.
The rose window of the façade, decorated with trumpet-blowing angels, is Gothic, but the arch of the entrance beneath it is Romanesque. The idea which dominates the sculpture of this entrance is evidently taken from that of the Pórtico de Gloria at Santiago; here we have elders, though fewer in number, with musical instruments, strange monsters supporting the pillars, and finally the twelve apostles.[240] The faces, however, are all quite original and remarkably lifelike; it has been suggested that the sculptor chose as his models the rugged and weather-beaten faces of contemporary Noya fishermen. St. James wears his usual pilgrim’s cap with shells on it. All the faces wear a happy look, and are almost smiling; the salt sea breezes have probably worn off much of their original expressiveness, but there is enough left to make them very interesting.
The plan of San Martin de Noya, like that of Santa Maria a Nova, is one nave with wide parallel arches, and a wooden roof; its style is supposed to be Gothic, but, as Lamperez remarks, it is full of romantismos, that is, features which are distinctly Romanesque; the only part that is vaulted is the castellated apse. A wooden roof was naturally the easiest and cheapest in a district where timber was so remarkably abundant as at Noya, and when shipbuilding was the most thriving industry.