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SANTIAGO DE
COMPOSTELA
The cathedral of Santiago was designed with a floor-plan
and series of special characteristics that come within a
particular category of Romanesque architecture, commonly
termed “Pilgrimage Art”: large churches or basilicas,
with barrel vaulting and through-stone arches in the
central nave and groin
vaults on the sides; churches which incorporate the
retrochoir as a revolutionary architectural element. This
structure permits large crowds to wander round the church
without hindering the church services taking place in the
central nave, it also makes it easier to visit the various
relics located in the different chapels of the retrochoir.
Together with these characteristics, there is also the
triforium, with its galleries above the side naves,
surrounding the entire cathedral. At least five churches
can be included within this special group: San Martín de
Tours, San Marcial de Limoges, San Sernin de Toulouse,
Santa Fe de Conques and the most perfect of all, Santiago
de Compostela.
Faced with the
presence of such large numbers of pilgrims, and in order
to mitigate the odour of the pious crowds, the Botafumeiro
or incense burners were invented. The current Botafumeiro (which replaced the silver worked one taken by Napoleon
in 1851 and which dated back to 1544) is now only a
decorative item or tourist spectacle which can be seen in
operation during solemn ceremonies and on all Sundays
during Jubilee Year. The Botafumeiro
is 1.5 metres high and weighs about 50 kilos. It is hung
on a series of ropes and pulleys and seven men (the tiraboleiros)
swing it from one side of the nave to the other. (In 1499
it flew out of the door of Las Platerías, before the eyes
of princess Catherine of Aragon and was stopped by one of
the tiboleiros
jumping on top of it). It already existed in the 16th
Century; as did other turibuli
magni in the cathedrals of Zamora, Ourense and Tui.
From the book
“Curiosidades del Camino de Santiago”. by Juan Ramón
Corpas Mauleon. Published by Edilesa
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