Hello!
I joined a group excursion to see Monumenta Salamanticae, an interactive exhibition about the city's history in an old church.
It was interesting; one of my favourite parts was a display of photographs of Salamanca that had won a competition. There was also the scale model that can be seen in the photo above, which was lit by various coloured lights as the narrator told the story of the city. It was quite dramatic.
After seeing the exhibition the group members said our goodbyes and parted but I didn't feel like returning to my residence just yet so I decided to visit the Cathedrals. The weather was being moody and creating quite an ambience as I walked the short distance through the old town.
People are often surprised to hear that there are two cathedrals in Salamanca as they are on the same site and to all appearances look like one structure. On the inside, however, you can clearly see the difference in architecture.
I entered and paid. I feel that the welcome I recieved wasn't the nicest; I know there are a lot of tourists and the staff have to work quickly and practically but I do think the man who served me could have been more tactful. He left me with a bad feeling as I took my first look around the New Cathedral; however, this soon wore off as I started to explore.
I stepped into the Chapel of San Lorenzo which acts as a doorway between the New and Old Cathedrals.
The Old Cathedral is architectually Romanesque/Gothic, the New Cathedral Gothic/Baroque. To pass from Salamanca New Cathedral, known as "Magnus" for being one of the biggest and best examples of Gothic architecture in Spain, to the small, humble, much more comfortable - for me - Old Cathedral was like crossing between worlds.
In the Old Cathedral I visited the Chapel of San Martín with its delicate and colourful artwork.
The nave of the Old Cathedral is very simple and airy and full of light. I found it a peaceful and welcoming space.
This lion looks nice and happy!
Is this supposed to be a dog or a lion? It actually looks quite like a Chinese New Year Lion.
I then wandered around the cloister and saw some religious artifacts. There were lots of little chapels coming off the cloister, some of them extremely elaborate.
I visited a museum area with lots of interesting - and some rather strange - things.
Back in the cloister I noticed a room which looked rather neglected. I was drawn in; it had a heap of rope among other bits and bobs.
Everything looked slightly precarious, as though something was bound to fall over, so I didn't linger. But while I was there I felt the strangest feeling of connecting to some other realm, to something beyond. I'm not religious but I do think such connections are possible, and it intrigued me.
I then found a more conventional chapel with lots of gold decoration.
Then back to the New Cathedral!
While I love Salamanca Cathedral's exterior, with its detailed stonework, I have made my thoughts on the interiors of Gothic cathedrals in Spain known on this blog and Salamanca is pretty much in keeping with them. It has a feeling of closed-in-ness for such a huge building, of lots of different parts rather than one entity and a sense of coldness.
On the plus side, there was a very nice exhibition about Joseph as the adopted father of Jesus and some lovely candles. However, there was also a large number of fake candles. Why? For safety? for the environment? To cut costs? I don't know, but I would much rather see a church full of real ones, flickering and dancing with light and warmth.
At last! Real candles!
So, as expected I much preferred the Old Cathedral to the New one; however, I'm glad I got to see both.
Thanks for reading,
Liz x
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