Inside
Contenido
El templo, si se excluyen las capillas laterales y las diversas dependencias anejas levantadas en etapas arquitectónicas posteriores, presenta planta de cruz latina, con dimensiones de 84 por 59 metros, que forman tres naves, siendo la central más ancha (11 metros) elevada (25 metros) y estando las laterales fusionadas en la cabecera mediante una girola o deambulatorio, y, cortándolas perpendicularmente, un transepto de una nave orientado en el eje norte-sur. El eje longitudinal de las naves del eje este-oeste se compartimenta en nueve tramos, tres de los cuales corresponden a la profunda Capilla Mayor, más el crucero y la cabecera pentagonal; el transepto o nave transversal consta de seis tramos, tres a cada lado y de la misma altura que la nave central.
Los alzados consisten en pilares octogonales, de núcleo cilíndrico y columnillas adosadas, salvo los que sostienen los arcos torales en el crucero, que son solo cilíndricos y de mucho mayor grosor. Las cubiertas se solucionan con bóvedas de crucería con nervio espinazo, simple en la mayoría de los tramos y compuesta con terceletes y combados en algunos tramos, como sucede en el transepto. Las bóvedas de los tramos de la girola son de cinco o seis radios, y las de los tramos de la nave central son barlongas, es decir, acusadamente rectangulares.
Es característico el elegante triforio que recorre toda la parte alta de los muros de la nave central y del transepto, inmediatamente por debajo de los vitrales. Cada arcada, de arco de medio punto festoneado con cabezas humanas, presenta un elaborado intradós consistente en siete vanos, trifolios y cuadrifolios, arquería apuntada y trilobulada separada por seis maineles y un antepecho a modo de balaustrada calada con motivo flamígero. Los tramos del triforio próximos al crucero tienen decoración flamígera más movida; fue el resultado de una modificación de finales del siglo llevada a cabo quizás por Juan de Colonia, momento en que se realizaron también los antepechos por iniciativa del obispo Acuña, cuyas armas se ostentan en varios puntos. Este modelo de alzado, de pilares, triforio y vitrales, parece inspirado en el de la catedral de Bourges.
En la parte superior de los muros se abren las amplias ventanas con vidriera partida en doble ojiva y rosetón superior. Tres son los rosetones: el de la fachada de Santa María y los que presiden los testeros del transepto.
main ship
• - The Flycatcher and the Martinillo.
At the foot of the main nave, at a high altitude, there is a clock with an articulated figure that, every hour on the hour, moves an arm with which it rings the bell and opens its mouth at the same time: it is an automaton of the century that is called the Flycatcher. To his right, on a balcony, another automaton, the Martinillo, is responsible for announcing the quarter hours by striking the bells that flank him.
• - Main Chapel.
It consists of three sections, the first, adjacent to the transept, with a complex ribbed vault and the next two with a simple ribbed vault, plus the pentagonal head. The main altarpiece presides over the space, a work in the Romanesque Renaissance style begun in 1562 by Rodrigo de la Haya and completed after his death in 1577 by his brother, Martín de la Haya. Includes sculptural collaborations by Juan de Ancheta. Once the architecture and sculpture were completed in 1580, in the following years the artists Gregorio Martínez "Gregorio Martínez (painter)") and Diego de Urbina carried out the gilding and polychrome. The altarpiece is presided over by the image of Santa María la Mayor, the owner of the cathedral, in a Gothic-Flemish style from the mid-century. In the presbytery some Gothic tombs are preserved, among them, that of the Infante Juan de Castilla de Tarifa, who was the son of King Alfonso X of Castile.
• - Choir and backchoir.
Located in the middle of the main nave and immediately before the transept, the most prominent element of the cathedral choir is the walnut stalls, a monumental U-shaped sculptural group, mostly carved from the year 1505 and in Plateresque style by Felipe Bigarny, who carved into it a profuse series of reliefs with religious iconography. Until 1522 the side steps were located on both sides of the presbytery of the Main Chapel. The transverse row and minor parts of the ashlar parallel to the axis of the nave were carved at other times later in the century and at the beginning of the century. The space houses a grille by Juan Bautista Celma, two organs, one baroque and the other neoclassical, and the recumbent body of Bishop Mauricio, a Gothic work of the century carved in wood and covered in copper with stone appliqués and Limoges enamels. Externally, parallel to the side naves and the gable at the foot of the Cathedral, the choir complex is resolved into a classicist baroque style backchoir from the beginning of the century, a structure that houses valuable alabaster sculptures and a collection of canvases dedicated to saints who are among the highlights of the painter Juan Ricci's work.
Transept
• - Dome.
Around the years 1460-1470, commissioned by Bishop Acuña, Juan de Colonia built a dome in the transept that took the form of a third and sumptuous cathedral tower. The daring structure of this dome - which according to the descriptions of the time was very tall and elegant, was adorned by many columns and was crowned with eight spiers - was surely the cause of its resounding collapse on the night of March 3 to 4, 1539. The work collapsed when its pillars on the north side gave way and took several vaults with it. The accident took place at dawn and caused no victims.
That same day, the council decided to rebuild the dome and commissioned Juan de Vallejo to do so. Designed by a disciple of Felipe Bigarny called Juan de Langres,[3] Vallejo presented a high octagonal prism structure divided into two bodies. Four attached towers topped by slender spiers reinforce the visual impact of the central drum. On each of its eight sides there are two large yellowed windows that allow intense lighting of the interior. The Plateresque Renaissance style is combined with the late Gothic, which is manifested in its meticulous decorative program and in the verticality caused by its numerous pinnacles and spiers. The resulting profile is still basically Gothic.
The interior is even more dazzling than the exterior. The imposing architectural volume rests on four enormous circular pillars, a solution imposed by Vallejo to prevent a repetition of the disaster of 1539. Four squinches allow the passage to the octagonal plan of the two bodies. The eight sides of the lantern are filled with a dense decoration of Renaissance inspiration, in which numerous sculptures, reliefs, noble shields and other decorative elements come from the hands of artists such as Juan Picard (or Picardo) and Pedro Andrés. The entire complex is finished off with a spectacular star vault with a double structure in the shape of an eight-pointed star and which encloses a completely openwork filigree between its ribs. This surprising and daring architectural solution, in addition to lightening weight, allows the overhead light to filter strongly and illuminate the sculptural work that is spread around it. All the work was completed in 1568.
• - Cruise.
On the floor of the transept, just below the dome, the tomb of El Cid and Doña Jimena has been located since 1921. His remains, from the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña, were buried under a simple marble slab with the corresponding inscription, in a solemn ceremony in which an epitaph written by Ramón Menéndez Pidal was read. It should be added that the transept space is flanked by two bars from the beginning of the century forged according to a project by Brother Pedro Martínez, who also designed the pulpits.
• - Golden Staircase.
The Golden Staircase replaces the staircase that served for access from the Puerta de la Coronería, which was used by the residents of Burgos as a shortcut to more easily access the lower part of the city, with the consequent transit of goods and even animals. Already in the chapter minutes of 1465 the prohibition of the Chapter appears: “… This primitive staircase was ordered demolished by Bishop Fonseca, who, in the face of criticism, It borders the Puerta de la Pellejería and a new staircase.
Girola and trasaltar
In the ambulatory there is the tomb of archdeacon Pedro Fernández de Villegas, the work of Simón de Colonia. The central reliefs of the transaltar are by Felipe Bigarny and those at the ends by Pedro Alonso de los Ríos.
• - Reliefs of the transaltar.
In 1498 the chapter commissioned the sculptor Felipe Bigarny to create a stone relief for the transaltar. Bigarny executed his Calvary Road in limestone. This is the first documented work of this artist in Burgos and it shows his style, very much indebted to expressiveness and Gothic aesthetics but open to Renaissance innovations, as evident in the decorative elements. After the success of the commission, the chapter entrusted him with two more reliefs: those of the Crucifixion and the Descent, burial and resurrection of Christ (1500-1503), both of which are currently very damaged due to having been carved in poor quality stone that is pulverized by humidity. The architectural decorative framework of the reliefs is attributed to Simón de Colonia.
This sculptural group was completed almost two centuries later with the addition at the ends of two new reliefs, dedicated to the Garden Prayer and the Ascension. They were executed by the sculptor Pedro Alonso de los Ríos between 1681 and 1683, also in limestone, and in the baroque style.
Constable's Chapel
Built on the central chapel of the ambulatory, it replaces the primitive Gothic chapel dedicated to Saint Peter. The new large chapel was commissioned by the Constables of Castile Pedro Fernández de Velasco and Mencía de Mendoza y Figueroa to serve as a family pantheon and although its popular name is the Chapel of the Condestable (or of the Constables), its exact name is Chapel of the Purification of the Virgin, to which it was consecrated.
• - Architecture of the chapel.
The architecture is due to Simón de Colonia, who began the works in 1482. It is a large construction that shows late Gothic and the transition from Gothic to early Renaissance art: Colonia adapted the irregular site of the chapel to build a single space covered with an octagonal star vault, with its central area - around the main keystone - openwork, in such a way that overhead light enters. The architectural work is completed with the adjacent sacristy, added in 1517 by Francisco de Colonia.
• - Altarpieces.
The main altarpiece is the work of Diego de Siloé and Felipe Bigarny and was made between the years 1523 and 1526. Its architecture is very original: the main subject (the Purification of the Virgin) occupies the entire first body, conceived as if it were a stage (as the historian Martín González described it), with life-size sculptures in which the difference in style between Bigarny and Siloé can be seen (the latter more delicate and sweet than the Burgundian). The polychrome of the altarpiece was in charge of León Picardo.
On the right side front is the altarpiece of Santa Ana, a work mostly made by Gil de Siloé and finished by his son Diego with polychrome by León Picardo. It consists of three bodies ending in a high canopy in imitation of one of the cathedral's spiers. Presided over by an image of “Saint Anne triple”, it brings together a series of images of saints with the exception of a “Dead Christ” supported by two mourning angels, the work of Diego de Siloé.
Symmetrical to this is a Renaissance altarpiece dedicated to Saint Peter, the work of Felipe Bigarny and Diego de Siloé with polychrome by León Picardo.
• - Graves.
In the chapel there remain several Gothic tombs that belonged to the primitive chapel of San Pedro and that the constables respected when building theirs. Both are at the entrance, in arcosolios, and correspond to bishops Pedro Rodríguez de Quexada") and Domingo de Arroyuelo"). The recumbent statues of the founding constables are in the center of the chapel. Carved in Carrara marble, historians debate the authorship (they are attributed to Bigarny, Alonso Berruguete or Juan de Lugano).
• - Paint.
Among the jewels belonging to the chapel is the painting of the Magdalene by Giovan Pietro Rizzoli, , a disciple of Leonardo da Vinci, and a by Mateo Cerezo.
Cloister
• - Door to the upper cloister.
It is an interior doorway, usually closed, that connects the cloister with the southern arm of the transept. Dated at the end of the century, attributed to the teacher Juan Pérez&action=edit&redlink=1 "Juan Pérez (teacher) (not yet written), related to the Franco-Champagne school").
On the tympanum "Tympanum (architecture)") the scene of the Baptism of Christ is represented; In the two archivolts the genealogy of Christ, the tree of Jesse and fourteen figures of prophets are represented; The exterior shell is decorated with vegetables and rests on two corbels with two heads. Local tradition identifies one of these two heads with Saint Francis of Assisi who had visited Burgos making foundations.
On the jambs there are sculptures related to the coming of Jesus; On the left is the group of the Annunciation with a smiling angel, a sculpture related to those on the eastern façade of Reims; On the right two prophets, Isaiah "Isaiah (prophet)") and David, who announce the earthly arrival of Jesus.
The heraldic decoration with castles and lions is repeated on the jambs and lintel, with repetition typical of the Mudejar style, a consequence of the medieval association of Christ with the monarchy.
The wooden leaves of the door date from the end of the century, sponsored by Bishop Luis Acuña (1457-1495), whose shield appears, and the work of Gil de Siloé, who worked for said prelate. Of Gothic tracery with scenes of Jesus' Entry into Jerusalem" and his Descent into Limbo").
• - Upper cloister.
From the antisacristy, through a door located in the south wall, you access the upper cloister. The cloister of this cathedral, the “new cloister”, is a work from the end of the century, with a somewhat irregular rectangular floor plan, with six arches on the eastern and western sides and seven on the north and south sides, and has had a double floor since its inception, due to the need to overcome the strong unevenness between the floor of the temple and Calle de la Paloma (Calle de la Paloma (Burgos)). The sobreclaustro, or upper cloister, the work of master Enrique, is for Vicente Lampérez, “a leading example of Gothic art”, like the cloister of the cathedral of Pamplona; Its galleries are covered with simple, quadripartite pointed arch vaults, and its large windows, with pointed arches, have triple mullions and tracery of three quadrilobed oculi.
The vegetal ornamentation of its arches, its capitals and the archivolts of the blind arches of its walls is beautiful and, above all, the historic decoration of its four angular pillars, on which are supported as many sculptural groups that represent the Annunciation, the Epiphany and separate groups of characters related to the construction of the cathedral, and of the blind arches of the north gallery in which statues with characters, or scenes, from the Old Testament appear, such as the Sacrifice of Isaac; of Apostles, such as Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint James the pilgrim, and of figures related to the construction of the cathedral, such as Bishop Mauricio and Ferdinand III the Saint, who appears offering the ring to Beatrice of Suavia. Under the blind pointed arches of the side walls of the other three galleries are distributed numerous tombs from the 19th century, most of them Gothic and Renaissance, belonging to canons of the cathedral. Among these tombs, the Romanesque one of the noble Doña Godo, mother of Alfonso VIII's butler, who died in 1105, stands out for its historical or artistic value; the Gothic of Bishop Mateo Rynal, who died in 1259; the Gothic one by canon Juan López del Hospital, from the 19th century, and the Renaissance one by canon Diego de Santander, from the 19th century and carved by Diego de Siloé, and the Renaissance one by canon Gaspar de Illescas, a work from the middle of the century, attributed to Juan de Lizarazu, marked by two vase columns of the Corinthian order and composed, in the upper body, of medallions with the effigies of Saint Peter. and Saint Paul, a relief with the scene of the Birth of Christ and four niches with the statues of the Fathers of the Western Church and, in the lower one, the tomb itself, with a recumbent statue on the lid and shields on the front, all decorated with grotesques and finials.
Chapel of Santa Tecla
Located next to the foot of the cathedral, it is the first of those attached to the Gospel or northern nave (left side) and it is also the most spacious of the group of chapels, since it occupies four floor sections. Its complete dedication is to Santa Tecla and Santiago. Built in the third decade of the century according to a project by Andrés Collado and Francisco de Basteguieta, it is all in the Baroque style. Inside, the vaulting stands out, made of polychrome plasterwork, and the monumental main altarpiece, in Churrigueresque style and whose main body contains scenes of the martyrdom of the saint who is the object of dedication. Regular worship is held in this chapel, sharing a program of services with the Main Chapel.
Chapel of Santa Ana or Concepción
It is located between the Chapel of Santa Tecla and the northern arm of the transept, occupying two
sections parallel to the Gospel nave. Built between 1477 and 1488 in the late Gothic style typical of the time by Juan de Colonia and his son Simón, it houses works of great artistic value: the extraordinary main altarpiece, dedicated to the iconographic theme of the Jesse Tree and the genealogy of the Virgin, and whose main element is the embrace of San Joaquín and Santa Ana, performed with his characteristic virtuosity by the Spanish-Flemish Gil de Siloé between the years 1486 and 1492; the tomb of Bishop Luis de Acuña, carved in alabaster and in Renaissance style by the son of the previous one, Diego de Siloé, in 1519; the tomb of archdeacon Fernando Díaz de Fuentepelayo, flamboyant Gothic and attributed to Gil de Siloé; and the altarpiece of Santa Ana, Renaissance-Plateresque. The space is covered with star vaults and is entered through a Gothic grille by Luis de Paredes.
St. Nicholas Chapel
In the eastern wall of the first section of the north arm of the transept, under the corresponding triforium arch, the access arch to the small Gothic chapel of San Nicolás opens, parallel to the first section of the north arm of the ambulatory and which is the oldest in the cathedral, as it was founded in the first third of the century by Pedro Díaz de Villahoz, capiscol of the cathedral who died in the year 1230; It is covered with a simple, octopartite ribbed vault; It is illuminated by two elongated pointed windows, without mullion or tracery; It is influenced in its architecture by the Cistercian late Romanesque, reminiscent of the apsidal chapels of the temple of the monastery of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, and contains the Gothic tomb of the founder and a small Romanesque altarpiece, from the 19th century, which was brought, in the 1920s, from the former Benedictine priory of Santa María de Mave (Palencia). This altarpiece, carved in wood and polychrome, is made up of two pieces; The lower one, which is believed to have been made between the years 1235 and 1260, is rectangular and could have served as a frontal, presenting a central box containing a mandorla to which a Pantocrator, now disappeared, was attached, and which is surrounded by the Tetramorfos, from which the lion of Saint Mark is missing, and two side boxes in which, under two superimposed series of six arches, three on each side, there is an Apostolate, of which missing four of the Apostles and in which only Saint Peter and Saint John are identifiable; On each series of arches there is decoration of castles and, on the frame, decoration of rosettes and a cord border that, also taking into account other observable differences between the two pieces of the altarpiece, suggests that both were independent. The upper piece, which is supposed to have been made between the years 1280 and 1300, has a pentagonal shape and is organized into three sections, the lower two divided into two sections by a trilobed arch that served as a frame for the Romanesque image of the Virgin that is still preserved in the temple of Santa María de Mave; In the two streets of the lower body, sheltered in trefoil arches, three in each street, were, on the left, the figures of the three Wise Men, of which only one kneeling is preserved and, on the right, those of Saint Joseph, the angel of the Annunciation and the Virgin, of which only that of the angel is preserved; In the intermediate body, also under trefoil arches but in oblong spaces, the scenes of the Visitation, the Birth, the Flight into Egypt and another unidentifiable scene appeared, of which only the scene of the Birth is preserved, with the Virgin in the bed and the Child on her, as it appears carved in some late Romanesque capitals, such as in the well-known capital of San Juan de Ortega; The upper body is made up of three empty frames, the two lateral ones triangular and the central one pentagonal. Both pieces only conserve some remains of their polychrome.
Nativity Chapel
The current chapel is from the century and stands in the space occupied by two old Gothic chapels from the 19th century, which were unified under a single Renaissance vault with an oval floor plan built by the architects Domingo de Bérriz and Martín de la Haya. This new chapel was founded as a funerary chapel by Ana de Espinosa, widow of Pedro González de Salamanca, who had become rich in Peru.
• - Main altarpiece.
It is the work of Martín de la Haya and Domingo de Bérriz. It was made between the years 1580 and 1585. It consists of a large stone arch with abundant sculptural decoration that frames the wooden work, which follows the same Romanesque style of the Hague brothers in the main altarpiece of the cathedral, carved a few years before. It was polychromed by the gilder Juan de Cea.
• - Seating.
The chapel's stalls were also carved by Martín de la Haya. It is Renaissance style and of great quality.
• - Triptych.
In 2022 a triptych was attributed to the Flemish painter Jan Sanders van Hemessen. The central panel represents Christ with the cross and is a version of a painting by Sebastiano del Piombo that Van Hemessen was able to see in Italy. The sides represent Santiago Apóstol (a recurring theme in the paintings intended for Spanish clients) and the merchant in charge of the painting, Pedro González de Espinosa, who in a later repaint was transformed into a Saint Peter.[8].
Chapel of the Annunciation
The chapel of the Annunciation, or of San Antonio Abad, with a hexagonal floor plan, is one of the primitive chapels of the century. It is already documented in the time of Bishop García Gudiel (1276-1280). He commissioned the Mannerist altarpiece that presides over it today and was made by the sculptor Juan de Lizarazu and the painter and gilder Lázaro de Azcoitia.
Its restoration was completed in 2012.
St. Gregory Chapel
Called San Juan until the end of the century, it has a flattened pentagon plan and is the last of the northern turn of the ambulatory, next to the Constable's Chapel. It contains a baroque altarpiece with three bodies and three streets consecrated to the Virgin, as well as a canvas, the Martyrdom of Saint Peter, attributed to Mateo Cerezo, who was inspired by an original by Guido Reni. However, the most valuable objects are two Gothic tombs of the century belonging to bishops Gonzalo de Hinojosa (died in 1327) and D. Lope de Fontecha (1351), who are represented with recumbent bundles in arcosolium. These ecclesiastical tombs show a rich iconography that is very informative about the customs and funerary rites of the time. Currently (2008) this chapel is closed to visitors for rehabilitation work.
Main Sacristy
Sandwiched between the southern side of the ambulatory, the Chapel of San Juan Bautista and Santiago, the northern gallery of the lower cloister and the Chapel of San Enrique is the Main Sacristy of the Cathedral, which is entered through a vestibule or ante-sacristy from the nave. It is an almost circular space built between 1762 and 1765 in the Rococo baroque style following plans by the Hieronymite Fray Antonio de San José Pontones. The architecture with an elliptical dome with six segments and a lantern, as well as the variegated decoration with plasterwork, dedicated to the theme of the Coronation of the Virgin as Queen of Heaven, are due to the Carmelite master Fray José de San Juan de la Cruz. The polychromy is later, from the year 1870. The lavish furniture, made up of drawers, ungilded altarpieces, carvings and paintings, is also an exponent of the baroque at the end of the century. Rococo on all four sides, this sacristy was the subject of harsh criticism by the neoclassical academic Antonio Ponz. In addition, this furniture is adorned with small paintings by Luca Giordano.
St. Henry's Chapel
Following the cloister door, there is access to the chapel of San Enrique, or Ecce Homo, attached and parallel to the first two sections of the southern arm of the ambulatory and which is the result of a reform carried out by the masters Juan de la Sierra Bocerraiz and Bernabé de Hazas, in 1674, at the request of Archbishop Enrique Peralta y Cárdenas, and which converted the old chapels of Santo Tomás de Canterbury, or of Ecce Homo, and of the Magdalene and Saint Andrew. The room is covered with two domes, hemispherical at the head and octagonal at the foot. It contains in the front a baroque altarpiece with the carving of Saint Henry, Germanic emperor of the 19th century, patron saint of the prelate patron, and presided over by a beautiful carving of the Ecce Homo, an anonymous work made in Antwerp around the year 1500; This image was already in the chapel before the reform and was highly venerated by the people of Burgos, especially in times of great calamities. Another baroque altarpiece is also found in this chapel, containing the carvings of Saint Andrew and Saint Mary Magdalene; the tomb of Archbishop Enrique Peralta, with a praying bronze statue; the tombs of the canons Juan García de Medina de Pomar, from the middle of the century, and Juan Fernández de Abaunza, from the middle of the century; two funerary tombstones, corresponding to two bishops of Oca, and a free-standing “positive” organ, from the 19th century.
Visitation Chapel
In front of the door of the upper cloister, on the western wall of the transept arm, the access arch to the Chapel of the Visitation opens, closed with a Gothic grille from the end of the century, a work attributed to the master Bujil, and constitutes the oldest grille in the cathedral. Colony, commissioned by Bishop Alonso of Cartagena, son of his predecessor Pablo de Santa María. The Gothic tomb of the bishop is in the center of the room, with a stone tumulus, probably made by Juan de Colonia, and a recumbent alabaster statue, probably carved by Gil de Siloé with exquisite floral Gothic ornamentation that is clearly evident in the vestments and reminiscent of the tombs of King Juan II and his wife in the Miraflores charterhouse. Buried in the ground, next to the access gate, is the Cuenca humanist Juan Maldonado "Juan Maldonado (humanist)"), chaplain of this cathedral who died in 1554; Also buried in the ground are the German architect Juan de Colonia, who died in 1481, and his wife María Fernández; On the side walls there are Gothic arcosolios, with the tombs of relatives of the prelate, and some paintings hang, among them, one by Carlos Luis Ribera, from 1890, which represents the Catholic Monarchs before Granada, before the conquest, and in which the characters show great expressiveness that is also visible in their hands; The front is dominated by a good classicist baroque altarpiece which, in 1653, replaced another Gothic one and which contains paintings inspired by the Italian Renaissance and referring to Saint John the Evangelist and the life of the Virgin, occupying the central street, one representing the Visitation and another in which the Virgin and Child appear.
Chapel of San Juan de Sahagún
Adjacent to the southern arm of the transept and of small proportions, it has received this name since 1765, when it was dedicated to the Augustinian saint who had been canon of the Burgos cathedral. Previously, the space was named Capilla Santa Catalina and Capilla de los Rojas, in memory of the founding family, whose coat of arms decorate the two vaults of the roof, one with simple ribbed ceilings and the other with compound ribbed ceilings with triplets. The altarpiece, in a Rococo and gilded style, was made in 1765 by Fernando González de Lara following designs by José Cortés. In the central part of it, the image of the titular saint of the chapel was placed, the work of Juan Pascual de Mena (1770), and in the attic, the relief of the Vision of Saint Peter in Jaffa, by Manuel Romero Puelles. For a long time this chapel housed a neo-Gothic confessional that was used by the penitentiary canon "Penitentiary (priest)") for confessions to the faithful. A narrow spiral staircase also starts from here and goes up to the clerestory.
Chapel of the Relics
It has its access through the Chapel of San Juan de Sahagún and occupies the fifth section of the floor on the Epistle side. It was designed by the Carmelite architect Fray José de San Juan de la Cruz and built between 1761 and 1763 by Fernando González de Lara in Rococo style, with plasterwork of San Juan de Sahagún, San Telmo, San Julián, San Indalecio, Virtues and Alegorías. The three altarpieces-reliquaries inside, also designed by Fray José, house, in busts, caskets and teaks, the collection of relics from the cathedral, corresponding to saints before the 19th century, and replace the old closet-reliquary painted by Alonso de Sedano and the Master of the Balbases, which is currently exhibited in the Cathedral Museum. This small but motley chapel also contained two beautiful Gothic carvings, the Virgen de la Oca, from the 19th century, and the Virgen del Milagro, from the 19th century, both of which are now exhibited in the cloistered chapel-museum of Santa Catalina.
Presentation Chapel
The Chapel of the Presentation and Consolation, also called the Chapel of San José or the Lerma Polanco Family), was built between the years 1519 and 1524 at the initiative of Canon Gonzalo Díaz de Lerma Polanco to serve as a funerary chapel as well as that of his brother Alonso de Lerma Polanco and his nephew Juan de Lerma Polanco, one of the patrons of the chapel. The architecture, style Late Gothic, it is due to Juan de Matienzo, who was inspired by the Condestable Chapel to build a central floor with an openwork star vault. It has several Gothic-Renaissance tombs, among which stands out, free of charge, that of the founder, Gonzalo de Lerma, whose funeral burial mound was sculpted by Felipe Bigarny with great realism. The main neoclassical-style altarpiece features the painting of the Holy Family by Sebastiano del. Piombo, brought from Italy by the canon himself, a pictorial work of great value. A Renaissance fence by Cristóbal de Andino separates the space from the nave.
Chapel of the Holy Christ of Burgos
Shaped like a long Latin cross and the first of those attached to the Epistle nave, it occupies one of the groups of the primitive cloister, of which it preserves Gothic arches. The interior of the entrance contains a Gothic doorway from the second half of the century, in whose tympanum there is a seated sculpture of the Virgin with the Child.
At the head is the image of the Holy Christ of Burgos "Santo Cristo de Burgos (Cathedral of Burgos)"), which until the Confiscation of the year 1835 was property of the Royal Monastery of San Agustín, located outside the city walls. It is a miraculous image, highly venerated since ancient times, since Burgos merchants founded chapels dedicated to him in Bruges and Antwerp, and the Augustinians spread his devotion throughout Spain and Latin America: there was practically no cathedral that did not have a chapel consecrated to him, and his cult multiplied with engravings and plates, popularizing his iconography of long hair, a bloody body and, above all, skirts that They almost completely cover his legs.
The image dates back to the century and is highly realistic, as it is articulated, has human hair and beard, and the wooden body is lined with cowhide that simulates the human skin. Numerous travelers, historians and writers have described this Christ and have reflected the enormous devotion and emotion that he aroused, among others, Andrea Navagero, Saint Teresa of Jesus, Agustín Moreto, Enrique Flórez, Jean-Paul Sartre and Rafael Alberti.[10].
A legend attributes the authorship to Nicodemus, who would have modeled it on the body of Jesus when he took it down from the Cross. Another legend, written by León de Rosmithal de Blatna between the years 1465 and 1467, says that the Christ had been found 500 years ago, when some sailors from Burgos found an empty galleon where there was only a box with that Christ and some boards that said that whatever coast it reached, they should put the image in a decent place. In this way, they took the image and took it to Burgos.[11].
This Crucified must have been made in Flanders or in northern Germany, and bears a great stylistic resemblance to another famous Christ, this one recumbent, the Holy Christ of the Monastery of Las Claras "Monasterio de Santa Clara (Palencia)") in Palencia. According to another legend, the Christ of Palencia was found floating in the sea by a lookout from the fleet of Alfonso Enríquez "Alfonso Enríquez (admiral of Castile)"), admiral of Castile, between the years 1407 and 1410.[11].
The current altarpiece, in neo-Gothic style, was designed by Vicente Lampérez. Numerous tombs are also preserved in the chapel, some from the old cloister of the century and others modern, from the , such as that of Canon Barrantes, also the work of Lampérez. On one side of the presbytery there is a stone sculpture of the Virgin and Child dating back to the 19th century. This devotional chapel, like that of Santa Tecla which is located right in front, on the Gospel side, in its case consecrated to the regular service, is separated from the tourist circuit of the Cathedral and remains open continuously to the faithful, who agree to pray in it through the western portal of Santa María.
Cloister chapels and Cathedral Museum
In the northwest corner of the galleries of the upper cloister, between the first arch of the north gallery and the first of the western gallery, is the Gothic chapel of San Jerónimo, or Mena, built by Juan de Vallejo, in 1545, with a square floor plan covered with a star-crossed vault, at the request of canon Francisco de Mena, who died in 1553 and whose Renaissance tomb, with a recumbent statue and a precious polychrome relief that represents the Coming of the Holy Spirit, is attached to the right wall; The room is dominated by a good Mannerist altarpiece, attributed to Diego Guillén, influenced by the carvings of the main altarpiece of the cathedral, and which consists of three sections and five streets, occupying the central street, crowned by the figure of the Eternal Father, the sculptural group of the Burial of Christ and the carvings of the penitent Saint Jerome and Christ tied to the column.
In the southern part of the eastern gallery of the upper cloister opens the door of the Corpus Christi chapel, a Gothic doorway with an ogival arch whose tympanum is decorated with a relief in which a Deesis appears, a Christ the Judge surrounded by four angels carrying the symbols of the Passion and accompanied by the Virgin and Saint John, while on the lintel the patrons of the chapel appear, the noble Juan Estébanez Castellanos and his wife, kneeling on either side of his shield. The chapel was built around the year 1373, is covered with two sections of simple, octopartite ribbed vaults, and contains the tomb of a son of the founder, Garcí Fernández de Castellanos, who died in 1375 and whose recumbent statue barely protrudes from the pavement; the access staircase to the Archive, attached to the south wall and made by Martín de la Haya in 1596; the tombs of Garcí Fernández Manrique, first count of Castañeda (Cantabria), who died in 1439, and his wife Aldonza Téllez de la Vega, in two arcosolios, under the aforementioned staircase; the tomb of Miguel Esteban de Huerto, who died in 1283, and his wife Ucenda, who died in 1296, located at the height of the landing of the aforementioned staircase, under an angular ogee arcosolium; the so-called Cofre del Cid, a medieval chest that according to tradition was used by the Castilian hero to deceive the Jews of Burgos, but which was intended to store the documents of the chapter and which hangs on the left wall of the room between two shields of Castile, and finally, two large hymn books from the century and some later paintings and carvings.
The Archive is located above the Corpus Christi chapel and the adjoining modern chapter house. It guards a very important documentation that spans from the century to the century and in which the founding document of the abbey and the Infantado of Covarrubias, from 978, stand out; a privilege of Sancho II of Castile, from the year 1068, by which the diocese of Oca is restored; the Cid's earnest money letter, from the year 1074; a privilege of Alfonso VI, from the year 1075, by which the seat of the diocese of Oca was transferred to Burgos; a document from the council of Husillos, from the year 1088, which sets the limits of the dioceses of Burgos and Burgo de Osma; a bull from Pope Urban II, from the year 1095, confirming the transfer of the see of Oca to Burgos; a privilege of Alfonso VIII, from the year 1162, regulating the tasks of the grape harvest, and a privilege from Fernando III, from the year 1221, compensating Bishop Mauricio for his trip to Germany to arrange the monarch's wedding with Beatriz de Suavia. The Archive also houses valuable codices, such as the (around 910-914), the of Paulo Deácono and the of Abbot Smaragdo (century), the of William of Perault (century), the (end of the century - beginning of the century, with marginal notes attributed to Pablo de Saint Mary) and the (1494). Likewise, the archive houses more than a dozen incunabula, a Polyglot Bible from Alcalá (around 1514-1517), several prince editions and 253 editions of .