ucceeded. The
south front was entirely taken down and rebuilt, the vaulting of aisles
fell, great portions of the main western facade, and ornamentation here
and there was disfigured or destroyed by the later alterations in
overconfident and decadent times, until, in the middle of the eighteenth
century, very considerable portions of the original rash and exquisite
fabric were practically ruined. There came, however, an awakening to the
outrages which had been committed, and from the middle of the nineteenth
century to the present day, the work of putting back the stones in their
original forms and places has steadily advanced to the honor of Leon and
glory of Spain, until Santa Maria de Regla at last stands once more in
the full pristine lightness of her original beauty.

The plan of Leon is exceedingly fine, surpassed alone among Spanish
churches by that of Toledo. Three doorways lead through the magnificent
western portal into the nave and side aisles of the Church. These
consist of five bays up to the point where the huge arms of the transept
spread by the width of an additional bay. In proportion to the foot of
the cross, these arms are broader than in any other Spanish cathedral.
They are four bays in length, the one under the central lantern being
twice the width of the others, thus making the total width of the
transepts equal to the distance from the western entrance to their
intersection. The choir occupies the fifth and sixth bays of the nave.
To the south, the transept is entered by a triple portal very similar in
scale and richness to the western. The eastern termination of the
church is formed by a choir of three and an ambulatory of five bays
running back of the altar and trascoro, and five pentagonal apsidal
chapels. The sacristy juts out in the extreme southwestern angle. The
northern arm of the huge transepts is separated from the extensive
cloisters by a row of chapels or vestibules which to the east also lead
to the great Chapel of Santiago. All along its eastern lines the church
with its dependencies projects beyond the city walls, one of its massive
towers standing as a mighty bulwark of defense in the extreme
northeastern angle.

[Illustration: CATHEDRAL OF LEON

Looking up the nave]

It is a plan that must delight not only the architect, but any casual
observer, in its almost perfect symmetry and in the relationship of its
various parts to each other. It belonged to the primitive period of
F