Audioguide   Virtual tour

Santiago Cathedral, conceived as a small city of stone centred on holy relics and endowed with its own life, has evolved dynamically through the years, resulting in today’s heterogeneous building of different historical styles and artistic tendencies that have been successively superimposed.

The Romanesque Cathedral, designed according to the French model of pilgrimage churches, was erected (1075-1211) on the site of the first churches built in the place where the Apostle’s ashes appeared, the last of which was destroyed by Almanzor in the summer of 997. The boom of the pilgrimages and the riches of one of the Iberian Peninsula’s biggest feudal estates enabled the beginning of the Cathedral’s construction during the episcopacy of Diego Peláez. The building has a traditional Latin-cross ground plan with three naves. The ambulatory surrounds the High Altar in order to provide access to the relics, by means of a small transversal corridor, where the apostolic ashes are kept. The naves have cruciform pillars with annexed columns. Elegant semicircular arches are used to delimit the volumes. The gallery was built above the aisles, all along the length of the Cathedral, the transept arms and the ambulatory. The exterior part, or triforium, consists of arcades with sections formed by two smaller arches. The gallery is a characteristic construction of pilgrimage churches, due to the need for increasing the capacity in order to accommodate a large number of visitors. The central nave is 97 m long and 20 m high; it is covered by barrel vaults and the aisles by groined vaults.

"PÓRTICO DE LA GLORIA":

The west entrance was completed in the year 1188 with the masterpiece of Romanesque sculpture: the "Pórtico de la Gloria." Conceived as a vestibule or narthex of the Cathedral, this complex work sculpted by Maestro Mateo in only 20 years consists of three arches. More than 200 granite figures make up a theological message centred on the idea of salvation. On the central arch, the apocalyptical vision of Heavenly Jerusalem: the resurrected Christ, surrounded by the four Evangelists, John, Luke, Mathew and Mark, who make room for the righteous and a procession of angels. Above them, in the archivolt, the 24 elders converse among themselves while tuning the instruments they will use to intone the song of Glory. The left side arch features Old Testament scenes, supported by columns bearing the prophets. Among them the figure of Daniel stands out due to his smile that became famous; such naturalness and expressiveness were unusual in the Romanesque period, thus heralding new artistic times. These were the first steps of the Gothic style in Compostela, also announced by the ribbed vault. The right arch, for its part, is devoted to the Final Judgment and supported by the figures of apostles: Peter, Paul, James and John. The Cathedral’s patron saint, the Apostle James, also appears in the central column of marble. This mullion, sculpted with a representation of the Tree of Jesse, or Christ’s genealogy, features half way up the profound handprints made by pilgrims. Behind the column, the kneeling Maestro Mateo has become known as the Saint of the "Croques," which refers to the popular tradition of touching the sculpture three times with one’s head in order to receive some of his talent.

NAVES, HIGH ALTAR AND CHAPELS: