| Cathedral Of Santiago De Compostela |
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Santiago de Compostela Cathedral is the historic burial-place of Saint James, one of the apostles of ''Camiño de Santiago'', Portuguese ''Caminho de Santiago'', Spanish ''Camino de Santiago'', French ''Chemin de St. Jacques'', German ''Jakobsweg'', and so on), a Pilgrimage route. At the front of the Baroque cathedral, a golden Mollusc Shell adorns the altar. A steady stream of pilgrims still queue there to kiss the shell, as another sign of homage. The cathedral preserves its original barrel-vaulted cruciform Romanesque interior. Perhaps the chief beauty of the cathedral, however, is the 12th Century ''Portico da Gloria,'' behind the Late Baroque facade. The shafts, tympana and archivolts of the three doorways which open onto the nave and aisles are a mass of strong and nervous sculpture representing the Last Judgment . Faint traces of color remain. The cathedral's facade (''illustration, right'') gains from forming part of an extended architectural composition on the ''Praza do Obradoiro'' (lit. Workshop Square), a grand square surrounded by public buildings. The ground rises to the cathedral, which is reached by a magnificent quadruple flight of steps, flanked by statues of David and Solomon . Access to the staircase is through some fine wrought-iron gates, and in the centre, on the level of the Plaza, is the entrance to a Romanesque chapel, the ''Igrexa Baixa'' ("Lower Church"), constructed under the portico and contemporary with the cathedral. To the north and south, and in a line with the west front, are dependent buildings of the 18th Century , grouping well with it. Those to the south contain a light and elegant arcade to the upper windows, and serve as a screen to the late Gothic cloisters, built in 1533 by Fonseca, afterwards archbishop of Toledo. They are said to be the largest in Spain. The north side of the cathedral is in the rich Spanish Baroque Style called Churrigueresque. In the cathedral's ''Capela do Relicario'' ("Chapel of the Reliquary") is a gold crucifix, dated 874 , containing a piece of the True Cross . |
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