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Read Ebook: The Cathedrals of Northern Spain Their History and Their Architecture; Together with Much of Interest Concerning the Bishops Rulers and Other Personages Identified with Them by Rudy Charles
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Ebook has 726 lines and 73624 words, and 15 pages
Appendix 369
Index 387
PAGE
Cloister Stalls in a Monastic Church at Leon 48
Typical Retablo 50
Mudejar Architecture 64
Santiago and Its Cathedral 82
Church of Santiago, Corunna 92
General View of Mondo?edo 96
Mondo?edo Cathedral 98
Northern Portal of Orense Cathedral 116
Tuy Cathedral 128
Oviedo Cathedral 140
Cloister of Oviedo Cathedral 144
Apse of San Isidoro, Leon 164
Burgos Cathedral 180
Crypt of Santander Cathedral 190
Cloister of N?jera Cathedral 202
Santa Maria la Redonda, Logro?o 204
Western Front of Calahorra Cathedral 207
Cloister of Soria Cathedral 212
Palencia Cathedral 226
Zamora Cathedral 238
Toro Cathedral 248
Old Salamanca Cathedral 260
New Salamanca Cathedral 266
Cuidad Rodrigo Cathedral 272
Fa?ade of Plasencia Cathedral 288
Western Front of Valladolid Cathedral 300
Tower of Avila Cathedral 310
Segovia Cathedral 316
San Isidro, Madrid 326
Alcal? de Henares Cathedral 332
Toledo Cathedral 360
GENERAL REMARKS
History and architecture go hand in hand; the former is not complete if it does not mention the latter, and the latter is incomprehensible if the former is entirely ignored.
The following chapters are therefore historical and architectural; they are based on evolutionary principles and seek to demonstrate the motives of certain artistic phenomena.
Unluckily, however, the author has been unable to consult any work on architecture which might have given him a concise idea of the story of its gradual evolution and development, and of the different art-waves which flowed across the peninsula during the stormy period of the middle ages, which, properly speaking, begins with the Arab invasion of the eighth century and ends with the fall of Granada, in the fifteenth.
Willingly the author leaves to other and wiser heads the solving of the above riddle. He hopes, nevertheless, that they will find some remarks or some observations in the following chapters to help them discover the real truth concerning the Spaniard's love, or his insensibility for architectural monuments, as well as his share in the erection of cathedrals, palaces, and castles.
Spanish architecture--better still, architecture in Spain--is peculiarly strange and foreign to us Northerners. We admire many edifices in Iberia, but are unable to say wherefore; we are overawed at the magnificence displayed in the interior of cathedral churches and at a loss to explain the reason.
As regards the former, it can be attributed to the Oriental spirit still throbbing in the country; not in vain did the Moor inhabit Iberia for nearly eight hundred years!
The powerful influence of the Church on the inhabitants, an influence that has lasted from the middle ages to the present day, explains the other phenomenon. Even to-day, in Spain, the Pope is supreme and the princes of the Church are the rulers.
Does the country gain thereby? Not at all. Andalusia is in a miserable state of poverty, so are Extremadura, La Mancha, and Castile. Not a penny do the rich, or even royalty, give to better the country people's piteous lot; neither does the Church.
It is nevertheless necessary to be just. In studying the evolutionary history of architecture in Spain, we must praise the tyranny of the Church which spent the millions of dollars of the poor in erecting such marvels as the cathedral of Toledo, etc., and we must ignore the sweating farmer, the terror-stricken Jew, the accused heretic, the disgraced courtier, the seafaring conquistador, who gave up their all to buy a few months' life, the respite of an hour.
And the author has striven to be impartial in the following pages. Once in awhile his bitterness has escaped the pen, but be it plainly understood that not one of his remarks is aimed against Spain, a country and a people to be admired,--above all to be pitied, for they, the people, are slaves to an arrogant Church, to a self-amusing royalty, and to a grasping horde of second-rate politicians.
HISTORICAL ARABESQUES
The history of Spain is, perhaps, more than that of any other nation, one long series of thrilling, contradictory, and frequently incomprehensible events.
This is not only due to the country's past importance as a powerful factor in the evolution of our modern civilization, but to the unforeseen doings of fate. Fate enchained and enslaved its people, moulded its greatness and wrought its ruin. Of no other country can it so truthfully be said that it was the unwitting tool of some higher destiny. Most of the phenomena of its history took place in spite of the people's wishes or votes; neither did the different art questions, styles, periods, or movements emanate from the people. This must be borne in mind.
The Romans were the first to come to Spain with a view to conquering the land, and to organizing the half-savage clans or tribes who roamed through the thickets and across the plains. But nowhere did the great rulers of the world encounter such fierce resistance. The clans were extremely warlike and, besides, intensely individual. They did not only oppose the foreigner's conquest of the land, but also his system of organization, which consisted in the submission of the individual to the state.
The clans or tribes recognized no other law than their own sweet will; they acted independently of each other, and only on rare occasions did they fight in groups. They were local patriots who recognized no fatherland beyond their natal vale or village.
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