the drum of the cupola, while
Gothic crocketed pyramids break the transition at angles. At the peak of
the lantern, three hundred and sixty feet in the air, soars the
triumphant emblem of the Church of Christ. That man of architectural
infamy, Churriguera, erected it, showing in this instance an
extraordinary restraint.

The facade belongs to the first period of the Cathedral, and portions of
it are Juan Gil de Hontanon's work, though the later points to Poniente.
It is interesting to compare it with the last Gothic work in France,
with, for instance, Saint-Ouen at Rouen. The end of the style in the two
countries is totally different--one expiring in a mass of glass and
tracery, the other, in a meaningless jumble of ornamentation, of cusped
and broken and elliptical arches and carving incredible in its delicacy.
One can scarcely believe it to be stone. The Spanish, though not wild in
its extravagance, yet lacks all sense of restraint. The front is
composed of a screenwork of three huge arches, within which three
portals leading to the aisles form the main composition, the whole
crowned by a series of crocketed pinnacles. A plain fortress-like pier,
resembling the remnant of an old bastion, terminates it to the north.
Great buttresses separate the portals. Around them are deep reveals and
archivolt; somewhat recalling French examples in their forms; above them
is an inexhaustible effort in stone. There are myriads of brackets and
canopies, some few having statues. There are enough coats-of-arms to
supply whole nations with heraldic emblems, and recessed moldings of
remarkable and exquisite workmanship and crispness of foliage. Some of
the bas-reliefs, as those of the Nativity and Adoration, are very fine.
The Virgin in the pillar separating the doors of the central entrance
gathers the folds of her robe about her with a queenly grace and
dignity.

[Illustration: Photo by J. Lacoste, Madrid

SALAMANCA

From the Vega]

The whole doorway on its great scale is a remarkable work of the
transition from Gothic to Renaissance. While the treatment of the
figures has a naturalism already entirely Renaissance, the main bulk of
the ornamental detail is still in its feeling quite Gothic.

From the steps of the Palazzo del Goberno Civil, the northern front
stretches out before you above the bushy tops of the acacia trees in the
Plaza del Colegio Viejo. The demarcations are strong in the horizontal
courses of the balconies whi