Spaces, themes and characters of the Santiago Cathedral

The mural paintings in Santiago Cathedral that have survived the passing of the centuries tell us about devotion, mentality and a hierarchy of sacred spaces, as well as a change of conception in the Jacobean tradition, its worship and images.

Excavations in the 20th century revealed the base of the medieval tower of Archbishop Manrique, where traces of mural painting can be found, such as this Angel playing an organ. It probably formed part of a composition dedicated to the Virgin and Child which has not survived.

When the Renaissance altarpiece was dismantled (ca. 1525), Gothic mural paintings were discovered on both sides of the Romanesque window, depicting two coats of arms, royal crowns and fleurs-de-lis in allusion to Charles V, patron saint of this chapel.

From the 1920s onwards, with the arrival of the Renaissance, the cathedral underwent a series of fundamental changes. The surviving mural paintings from this period are distributed in different chapels.

In the Chapel of Sancti Spiritus, a painting located where the altar of Saint Sebastian was in medieval times depicts a Fifth Anguish, attributed to Sixtus of Frisia and Tristan de Taboada or Pedro de Más. The intrados of the arch is decorated with vegetal elements.

In this chapel there is a pictorial cycle from the 16th century, attributed to Jordan Gonçalvez, which shows passages from the Saint's life such as the scene Domini, quo vadis? or his representation seated surrounded by two groups of figures that allude to characters of the period.

In the lunettes of the Chapel of San Fernando there are two frescoes painted in 1542 by Pedro Noble, an outstanding Renaissance painter. They depict the Ascension of the Risen Christ, wrapped in a cloud, and the Assumption of the Virgin, carried to heaven by four angels.

The compositions of both scenes are adapted to the architectural framework, forcing some of the apostles into positions and elongating the anatomies in a very advanced manner that almost heralds Mannerism.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, mural paintings reflected the impact of the Council of Trent, with a boom in the use of the image as a didactic tool.

On the vault of the Chapter Library is a Jacobean cycle painted by Manuel Arias Varela in 1780. In order to exalt the patronage of the Apostle St. James, it depicts the main episodes of his life: his Martyrdom, his appearance at the Battle of Clavijo and his Coronation.