INTRODUCTION TO CATHEDRAL OF SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA

DESIGNED BY "BERNARD THE ELDER, A WONDERFUL MASTER", ‘THE

CATHEDRAL OF SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA’ HAD STOOD MORE THAN 10

CENTURIES IN GALICIA, A

STATE IN NORTH-WESTERN

SPAIN. BEING A BLEND OF

ROMANESQUE, GOTHIC &

BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE

STYLES, THE BUILDING

ITSELF WAS NAMED

ACCORDING TO THE NAME

OF THE FORMER BISHOP,

WHERE ‘SANTIAGO’

REPRESENTS HIS NAME, ST.

JAMES, WHILE

‘COMPOSTELA’ COMES

FROM A LATIN WORD

“CAMPUS STELLAE”;

MEANING ‘BURIAL GROUND’

AS A EUPHEMISM. THE

BASILICA WAS ERECTED

APPROXIMATELY 818 A.D.

DURING THE REIGN OF

ALFONSO II, KING OF

ASTURIAS AFTER THE TOMB

OF APOSTLE ST. JAMES WAS

ACCIDENTALLY DISCOVERED BY BISHOP TEODOMIRO AT A MIRACULOUS SPOT.

FORM & SHAPE OF CATHEDRAL

St. James The Greater, one of the apostle of Jesus Christ. Being a religious man, he is the most sincere person among the disciples of Jesus Christ.

AS SAID BY UNKNOWN, (2010), THE CATHEDRAL OF SANTIAGO DE

COMPOSTELA WAS DESIGNED TO BE IN THE SHAPE OF A LATIN CROSS, WHICH IS

97M LONG WHERE THE MAIN PURPOSE OF ITS GREAT LENGTH IS MAINLY TO

ACCOMMODATE A LARGE NUMBER OF PILGRIMS AT THE SAME TIME AS IT IS THE

END OF THE PILGRIMAGE ROUTES IN THE WORLD.

MATERIALS & METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION

NUMEROUS PORTIONS OF THESE STRUCTURES WERE MADE OF STONE

AND CONCRETE PRODUCING IT TO BE HIGHLY PRESERVED. ASIAN ROMANS’

CONCRETE CONSIST OF LIME WATER, SAND AND POZZOLANA. POZZOLANA IS

MADE UP OF VOLCANIC ASH, WATER AND STONE. ROMANS USED TO PUT THESE

INGREDIENTS IN WOODEN FRAMES SO WHEN IT GET HARDEN IT WILL BE

BONDED TO A FACING OF STONE OR BRICK. THESE MATERIALS ARE VERY

RESISTANT SINCE THERE ARE STILL ROMAN STRUCTURES STANDING MORE THAN

2000 YEARS.

SIGNIFICANCE, FUNCTION & PURPOSE OF BUILDING

NOT ONLY FUNCTIONING AS A MONUMENT FOR ST. JAMES THE GREATER,

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA ALSO ACTS AS A MAJOR PILGRIMAGE ROUTE SINCE

EARLY MIDDLE AGES. ACCORDING TO UNESCO (N.D.), THE EXISTENCE OF THIS

PARTICULAR CATHEDRAL IS RELATIVELY SIGNIFICANT AS THE EXEMPLARY

NATURE OF THIS CITY OF CHRISTIAN PILGRIMAGE WHICH IS ENRICHED BY THE

IDEOLOGICAL CONNOTATIONS OF THE RECONQUISTA IS ECHOED BY THE GREAT

SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF ONE OF THE FEW PLACES THAT ARE SO DEEPLY

IMBUED WITH FAITH AS TO BECOME SACRED FOR THE TILE OF HUMANITY.

BESIDES, THE GALICIAN TOMB PLACED IN THE CATHEDRAL HAD ALSO

BEEN THE SYMBOL OF THE RESISTANCE OF SPANISH CHRISTIANS AGAINST ISLAM

OVER A MILLENNIUM SINCE IT WAS DESTROYED BY THE MUSLIMS AT THE END OF

THE 10TH CENTURY. THUS, THE EXISTENCE OF CATHEDRAL DE COMPOSTELA

NOT ONLY INFLUENCED THE CULTURAL BELIEVES OF GALICIAN, BUT ALSO

CONTRIBUTE TO THE ALTERATION OF SPAIN’S HISTORY.

REFLECTION & INFLUENCE OF BUILDING STYLE TO SPIRIT TIME & PLACE

THE CATHEDRAL ITSELF CONSISTS OF 3 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES, WHICH

ARE ROMANESQUE, GOTHIC & BAROQUE WHERE EACH OF THE STYLES REFLECTS

DIFFERENT SPIRIT OF TIME AND PLACE.

THE ROMANESQUE STYLE IS AN ARCHITECTURAL STYLE OF MEDIEVAL

EUROPE CHARACTERIZED BY SEMI-CIRCULAR ARCHES; FOR INSTANCE, ‘PORTICO

DE LA GLORIA’, FUNCTIONED AS THE MAIN ENTRANCE OF THE CATHEDRAL WAS

INTRODUCED DURING THE 12TH CENTURY WHEN ROMANESQUE WAS AMONG THE

MOST POPULAR ARCHITECTURE STYLE AMONG THE GALICIANS.‘The Jambs’ - sculptures of famous musicians during that era carved on the column of ‘Portico de la Gloria’

DURING THE 13TH CENTURY, THE ALTAR OF THE SANTIAGO CATHEDRAL

WAS DESIGNED WHERE LARGE PIECES OF WINDOWS WERE SET INTO WALLS,

ADMITTING LIGHT THROUGH VAST EXPANSES OF STAINED GLASS. AS REFERRED

TO THE COLUMBIA ELECTRONIC ENCYCLOPEDIA, 6TH ED (2012), GOTHIC

CONSTRUCTION IS CHARACTERIZED BY LIGHTNESS WHERE THE SPIRITUAL AND

MYSTERIOUS QUALITY OF LIGHT CONTRIBUTE AS AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT OF

THE RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM OF GOTHIC CATHEDRALS IN THE MEDIEVAL AGES.

Main ‘altar’ designed in Gothic style - located in the nave, exactly above the crypt; where the tomb of St. James was placed

FINALLY IN THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURY, THE ARCHITECTURE DESIGN

WAS RATHER UNIQUE COMPARED TO OTHER STYLES; FOR INSTANCE, HIGHLY

DECORATIVE DETAILS & ORNAMENTS CAN BE FOUND ON THE BAROQUE

EXTENSIONS SUCH AS ‘THE HOLY GATE’ ("PUERTA SANTA") AND THE MAIN

FACADE OF THE CATHEDRAL, ‘FAÇADE DEL OBRADOIRO’. FURTHERMORE, AN

ABUNDANCY OF TOWERS AS WELL AS DOMES CAN BE FOUND ON A BAROQUE

BUILDING; TAKING THE SANTIAGO CATHEDRAL AS EXAMPLE, THE BELL TOWERS

& ‘TOWER DE LA CARRACA’ WERE AMONG THE TOWERS THAT WERE ATTACHED

TO THE MAIN FACADE. FROM THE DESIGN OF THE BUILDING IN THIS ERA, WE

CAN SEE THAT THE PEOPLE WERE BECOMING MORE ATTENTIVE & THOUGHTFUL

AFTER SO MANY CENTURIES. THE VALUE OF PATIENCE CAN BE SEEN NOT ONLY

IN THE DESIGNERS, BUT ALSO IN THE SPIRIT OF THE GALICIANS.

Facade del Obradoiro- the main facade of Santiago Cathedral that is still standing in Galicia, Spain which was designed in the 17th century.

AS CONCLUSION, SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA IS ONE OF THE CATHEDRAL

IN THE MEDIEVAL WHICH WENT THROUGH SEVERAL RECONSTRUCTION IN

DIFFERENT ERA; HENCE, IT IS A BLEND OF 3 DIFFERENT ARCHITECTURE STYLES.

THE EXISTENCE OF THIS BUILDING IS NOT ONLY MEANT TO BE THE PLACE OF

MEMORIAL OF ST. JAMES THE GREATER, AN APOSTLE OF JESUS CHRIST BUT ALSO

AS THE FINAL DESTINATION FOR CHRISTIANS TO COMPLETE THEIR PILGRIM. AT

PRESENT, THE CATHEDRAL IS STILL STANDING AS A FAMOUS CHURCH AND

TOURIST ATTRACTION THAT COMPOSE OF DIFFERENT CHARACTERISTICS.

(777 WORDS)