Another Romanesque characteristic is the approximate height of nave and aisles. This circumstance examined from within or from without is one of the causes of the solid appearance of the church; the windows of the aisles—unimportant, it is true, from an artistic point of view—are slightly ogival; those of the nave are far more primitive and round-headed.
The transept, originally of the same length as the width of the church, was prolonged in[{242}] the fifteenth century. (On the south side also?... It is extremely doubtful, as the southern façade previously described is hardly a fifteenth-century construction; on the other hand, that on the north side is easily classified as posterior to the general construction of the building.)
Further, the western end, lacking a façade, is terminated by an apse, that is, each aisle and the central nave run into a chapel. The effect of this double apse is highly peculiar, especially as seen from within, with chapels to the east and chapels to the west.
The retablo is of indifferent workmanship; the choir stalls, on the other hand, are among the most exquisitely wrought—simple, sober, and natural—to be seen in Spain, especially those of the lower row.
The chapels are as usual in Spanish cathedrals, as different in style as they are in size; none of those in Zamora can be considered as artistic jewels. The best is doubtless that which terminates the southern aisles on the western end of the church, where the principal façade ought to have been placed. It is Gothic, rich in its decoration, but showing here and there the decadence of the northern style.[{243}]
The cloister—well, anywhere else it might have been praised for its plateresque simplicity and severity, but here!—it is out of date and place.
To conclude, the general characteristics of the cathedral of Zamora are such as justify the opinion that the edifice, especially as its Byzantine-Oriental and severe primitive structure is concerned, is one of the great churches that can still be admired in Spain, in spite of the reduced size and of the additions which have been introduced.
Note.—To the traveller interested in church architecture, the author wishes to draw attention to the parish church of La Magdalen in Zamora. The northern portal of the same is one of the most perfect—if not the most perfect—specimen of Byzantine-Romanesque decoration to be met with in Spain. It is perhaps unique in the world. At the same time, the severe Oriental appearance of the church, both from the outside and as seen from within, cannot fail to draw the attention of the most casual observer.