July 29, 2019 – It was another whirlwind tour today, but this time of Salamanca. Our only regret is how we wish we could stay longer. What a neat place! We have only been here 12 hours and can already tell it is special.
We started our day early by walking out of our room onto Plaza Mayor to look for some breakfast. The Plaza was built in the traditional Spanish baroque style and is a popular gathering area. It is lined by restaurants, ice cream parlors, tourist shops, jewelry stores and a pharmacy. It is considered the heart of Salamanca and is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful plazas in Spain. Construction of the plaza began in 1729 and was completed in 1755. King Felipe V ordered the construction of the plaza to be used for bullfighting and it was constructed in sandstone. It had been used for bullfighting up until the mid-19th century, one hundred years after being completed. The plaza is an irregular square and none of its facades measure the same height. The plaza’s walls have three floors above its ground terrace level except for the main facade portion. It features 88 arches raised on stout pillars that are decorated with medallions at the top. The plaza also has 247 balconies of which now belong to private owners.
Some of the restaurants on the Plaza Mayor were not open yet so we walked out of the plaza and around the corner and there was a cute cafe open with a big sign that said “Desayuno – 4 Euros” So we walked over to look at the breakfast menu and decided this was our place. We had a nice relaxing breakfast with eggs, bacon, bread with jam and espressos. The coffee was so good, we had another.
What we find beautiful about the ancient buildings here is the color of the stone used to build them. As mentioned in a previous post. the soil in the area has an amber-gold tone to it. This makes for a very beautiful rich color on the monuments. Salamanca is called the La Dorada or The Golden City because of this.
I hope you like churches because our first stop today is the Cathedral, or Cathedrals…plural. What is interesting about Salamanca’s Cathedral(s) is that it is actually two cathedrals, old and new built at different times but they were joined together. We love that they did not tear down the old cathedral to build the new…which was so often done in the past. A primary reason that Salamanca has two cathedrals is because the large number of students at the university necessitated the building of the much larger, so-called “new cathedral,” which stands next to the earlier cathedral.
The Old Cathedral was founded by Bishop Jerome of Perigord in 1140 and completed a century later. It is dedicated to Santa Maria de la Sede (Saint Mary of the See). It was built during a transition in architectural styles which saw a move away from Romanesque to Gothic. The evidence of this transition can be seen in a comparison of its ribbed vaults and its columnar supports of the vaults in the three rounded apses.
The transept is crowned by a singular hemispherical dome, with its clearly Eastern influence. The cupola is 28 feet in diameter. It was completed no later than 1200, probably 1150. It is circular at its base, which transitions to a square whose corners sit on support pillars. It is a hemispheric dome that sits within the conical Torre de Gallo.
While the Old Cathedral is less ornate than the New Cathedral’s Gothic style, in terms of color and decor go, it is simply beautiful. The altar is a recessed dome with a large fresco over the top depicting the final judgement. Under that are 53 smaller paintings depicting the life of Jesus and the Virgin Mary.
There are beautiful murals and a statue of Santa Maria la Blanca on the Left Side Aisle (Evangelical Nave) of the Old Cathedral of Salamanca. In the wall is an altar with the image of Santa Maria la Blanca. Over and around the image on the wall are paintings that depict the 18 miracles attributed to Christ of the Battles.
Situated under the bell tower (Ieronimus) at the rear (northwest corner) of the cathedral, the Chapel of St. Martin (Capilla de San Martin) contains brightly colored murals dating from the 13th century. The chapel also contains the intricately decorated sepulcher of Bishop Rodrigo Díaz, who died in 1339.
Outside of the Chapel of St. Martin (Capilla de San Martin) and over its entrance is a mural of the namesake of the chapel depicted in the typical iconography of him sharing his cloak with a beggar.
Situated under at the rear southwest corner of the cathedral are 12th century frescoes above the four tombs of Bishops and other church leaders from the 12th and 13th century.
I know this is a lot of photos but the art and craftsmanship detail in these places is amazing even if it is dealing with tombs. Here is the tomb Don Diego of Anaya, Archbishop of Seville in the Chapel of San Bartolomé and founder of the College of San Bartolomé (d. 1437). In the center of the chapel which he founded is his tomb surrounded by an ornate Gothic grill from the 16th century.
The organ is thought to be one of the oldest in Europe. Dating to around 1380, the organ is in working condition. The pedestal on which it sits is noteworthy itself because of its mudejar design. Mudejar refers to a style of ornamentation and decoration in post-Islamic Christian Iberia that was strongly influenced by Moorish taste and workmanship.
There were many more chapels in the Old Cathedral that we saw but the last one to present here is the Chapel and Tomb of Rodrigo Arias Maldonado de Talavera. Rodrigo is know for many things including being a knight of the Order of Santiago de Compostela; however, he may be most remember for being the builder of Casa de las Conchas discussed below.
Casa de las Conchas was built from 1493 to 1517. It was to be the home of Rodrigo Arias Maldonado de Talavera; however, it wasn’t complete until the year of his death. Its most peculiar feature is the facade, mixing late Gothic and Plateresque style, decorated with more than 300 shells, symbol of the order of Santiago, as well as of the pilgrims performing the Way of St. James that we discussed in earlier blog posts.
On the façade are also the coat of arms of the Catholic Kings. The entrance portal has the coat of arms of the Maldonado family, while in the architrave are dolphins, a Renaissance symbol of love, and vegetal elements.
The old wooden doors were opened into the courtyard so we went inside. It was a beautiful and quiet area and we took many pictures there. There was a stairway that led upstairs were there was a free art show going on. The inner courtyard has a double arcade. It houses a public library today.
Okay….On to the “New” Cathedral. The New Cathedral can be seen from virtually anywhere in the city thanks to its enormous size and its massive the dome and the bell tower. The best view of the cathedral is from the south side. So tall and imposing is its silhouette that you can barely notice the adjoining Romanesque Old Cathedral, which is much smaller.
Along with Segovia Cathedral, Salamanca’s New Cathedral, is considered to be the last of the Gothic style cathedrals built in Spain. The main facade is the west, which consists of three entrances – one for each of the naves – in detailed Gothic style. It has a wealth of details, such as stone-carved images depicting scenes from the Bible and of Jesus’ life. You could easily spend hours and hours looking at it.
Wayne saw a figure in the sculptures on the walls near the entrance of the church that looked like a modern astronaut…he thought it odd so when we went into the cathedral gift shop sure enough there was an astronaut magnet. We asked the sales lady what that was and she told us that during 1992 renovations of this cathedral, two modern elements were added including a mythological figure eating an ice cream cone and a floating astronaut. The explanation for why an astronaut was selected by the artists, Jeronimo Garcia, was because it was a symbol of the 20th century when one of the greatest accomplishments of mankind was achieving space flight and landing on the Moon. (USA, USA, USA!!)
Salamanca’s New Cathedral took more than 200 years to complete, with construction starting in 1513 and consecration of the cathedral in 1733. It was built at a time when Salamanca was a center of power and wealth in Spain and no expense was spared in its construction.
The Choir is located in the middle of the main nave in the traditional Spanish Cathedral style. It was among the last components built and is in a Baroque style dating from 1710 to 1733. Its structure consists of high choir and low choir. The backrests of the high choir seats are greater height with representations of full-body images of Christ the Savior, the Apostolic College, Evangelists, Saints of the local Church of Salamanca, Fathers of the Church. In the low choir are the busts of saints.
The Main Altar was completed in 1733 and continually improved through the second half of the 18th century. It is finished with a lavish polychrome and golden vault, which covered the magnificent tabernacle. Somewhat atypical is the rear center piece is not a representation of the crucifixion of Christ, but rather, is an image of the Assumption made in 1624.
It is worth highlighting the dome as it is one of the most outstanding features of the Cathedral. The cylinder opens up to the outside through eight large windows and is topped with a highly decorated hemispherical dome. The bell tower was built in the early 18th century. One of the fascinating facts about the cathedral is that the bell tower was affected by the Lisbon earthquake and ended up at an angle, threatening its own demise and that of neighbouring houses. However, before demolishing it, a decision was made to reinforce it, lining it with stone to increase its stability. And so it remains right up to the present day: leaning but safe.
The Cathedral is famous for containing 18 chapels, stunning stone carvings and truly inspirational late Gothic architecture with elements of Baroque and extensive plasteresque styling. We will highlight just a few here.
Golden Chapel was ordered by the Archdeacon of Alba Francisco Sánchez de Palenzuela around 1515. It is notable in the extensive decoration of the walls of the chapel. They are occupied by statues on shelves and canopies, polychrome and gold. The images of Adam and Eve are accompanied by those of patriarchs, apostles, saints, sibyls and prophets.
Along the rear wall in the upper right corner of the Golden Chapel, among the beautiful gold and colored statutes, is the the representation of death in a vain wall that is striking for its gruesome realism. Written underneath are the words Memento mori which is Latin for “remember you will die”. Memento Mori is the medieval Latin Christian practice of reflection on mortality, especially as a means of considering the vanity of earthly life and the transient nature of all earthly goods and pursuits. It got my attention, GEEZ!!
Chapel of San José (St. Joseph) is well known for its central image of the saint with the Child in his arms.
In the Chapel of the Christ of Battles at the western end of the nave is enshrined a cross that the forces of El Cid are said to have carried into battle against the Moors during the reconquista of Valencia. Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, better known as El Cid, was a Spanish knight born in the year 1043. He is the national hero of Spain for his capable leadership against the Moors in which the Castilian army was always victorious in several battles. As in almost all Spanish sacred sites the battles between the Christian indigenes and the Muslim invaders is at the center of the story.
It was time for lunch, so we passed by a very small, family-run market and bought some stuff for a picnic. It was a beautiful day so we found a little area next to the New Cathedrals main facade to have our lunch. There was an older man there, a street performer, playing Spanish music on his guitar hooked up to a speaker. The acoustics were perfect. Who could ask for a better lunch together…great music… good food… a cold beer…and an unbelievable view. It was a great lunch.
The Clerecía Church in Salamanca, originally known as the Royal College of the Company of Jesus, is in Baroque style and is home to a public section – church and school rooms where the Jesuits taught -, and a private section, where the monks lived. The construction of this historic building began in the seventeenth century by order of Queen Margarita of Austria, wife of Philip III of Spain, and was directed by Juan Gomez de Mora. It was a church and college of the ecclesiastic order of the Company of Jesus. The church has an immense, three-floored Baroque cloister. This monument is now headquarters of Salamanca Pontificia University.
We were really able to see a lot today, but it was time to head back to the room to have a short “before work siesta”. When we got up, Wayne started working while I went to do laundry at the nearby laundromat and hit the grocery store for some water, food and snacks for dinner and our drive tomorrow.
Oh one last thing…did I mention we collect magnets? We started this tradition on previous travels and when we go someplace new or interesting, we get a little magnet to remind of of places we visit. For this trip, rather than large items we normally would carry home, we decided just a little flat magnet was all. Well….we have collected so many on this trip based on the different places we have been that I have a really large bag for them already. I squeeze them into my already ridiculously, tightly packed backpack, and I swear it weighs 20 lbs. We are going to need to ship some stuff home for sure… including the magnets. Someday when we build our new house, we will make a wall in our workshop that we can stick all of the magnets to. When we are old and decrepit, we can look at them and reminisce where we have traveled.
Until next time…