This is a mobile optimized page that loads fast, if you want to load the real page, click this text.

Romanesque doorway in the Lugo Cathedral

Camino Inspired & Tested Gear!
New Original Camino Gear Designed Especially with The Modern Peregrino In Mind!
I’m on board not only with this but with getting rid of all Baroque in favour of Romanesque wherever possible!

Although in general I’m not always a fan of removing all layers down to the original. Look how cool the Roman temple in Évora once looked (sketch from 1865) with a medieval building built into it!

 
Fascinating stuff. Is there any surviving material that tells us what people in the Middle Ages thought about preservation / restoration / renovation of roman architecture or other historic buildings? (Other than the actual building material, so to speak).
 
Walking Tours of the Camino!
Join our full-service guided tour and let us convert you into a Pampered Pilgrim!
jungleboy said:
I’m on board not only with this but with getting rid of all Baroque in favour of Romanesque wherever possible
Click to expand...
Second the motion.
All in favor?

Let's start with the cathedral in Santiago, shall we? That hallowed Baroque concretion is like icing on a Tarta de Santiago.


But seriously. We think differently about old buildings than people did 400 years ago: why not 'improve' what was clearly out of style? Fortunately they could not mess with the inside too much.

peregrina2000 said:
Such suspense -- no one knows what the doorway looks like, whether there are paintings, what kind of carving, etc, etc.!
Click to expand...
Wonderful!
Thanks for sharing this, Laurie.
 
Camino Way markers in Bronze
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
jungleboy said:
Although in general I’m not always a fan of removing all layers down to the original.
Click to expand...
Nor am I.
Even though I am a Romanesque aficionado and I would vote with @VNwalking .

Removing all layers is like turning back the clock. You can't rebuild the Roman temple when all its stones have been used to build something else.

peregrina2000 said:
This article describes how a romanesque doorway in the Lugo cathedral, which was covered up during the Baroque era, is going to be uncovered.
Click to expand...
In this case, I'm all in favour, as the doorway, as I understand it, was just covered by a wall.
 
They did mess with the insides a bit. Those immense altarpieces (retablos?) covered original walls and windows and probably more. I don't know much about it, but there is a church somewhere along the Camino where the altarpiece was removed and a simple cross (not a crucifix, as I recall) hung in its place. Natural light returned through the windows that had been blocked for centuries. It was beautiful. Sorry I can't remember more!
 
"If it ain't Baroque, don't fix it". Sorry, stole that from Disney's Beauty and the Beast. But seriously, Baroque is unappealing to modern eyes: garish, over-decorated, melodramatic and furthermore mainly financed from the uncontrolled looting, theft and melting down of Inca and Aztec gold artefacts. Not only that, they also had absolutely no regard or respect for the work of earlier periods. But alternatively: intricate, superbly crafted, a glorious tribute to human ingenuity and vision, magnificent, and unashamedly camp (plus they had great music). Fashions change. We need to respect and conserve as much as we can of our heritage even if it does clash with contemporary orthodox notions of what things should look like. At one time, Romanesque was seen as crude and semi-barbaric. And as for tearing down the façade on Santiago cathedral, no, no, a million times no. Just one little quibble about the article, Romanesque, 13th century, - really?
 
Camino Jewellery
A selection of Camino Jewellery
dick bird said:
And as for tearing down the façade on Santiago cathedral, no, no, a million times no.
Click to expand...
Absolutely.
I was joking - at least about removing the cherubs and filagree, though certainly not about my feelings about said filigree and flocks of obese cherubim.
 
VNwalking said:
Absolutely.
I was joking - at least about removing the cherubs and filagree, though certainly not about my feelings about said filigree and flocks of obese cherubim.
Click to expand...
Yeah I know. Should I say this? but I really wonder sometimes about those flocks of cherubim.
 
dick bird said:
Should I say this? but I really wonder sometimes about those flocks of cherubim.
Click to expand...
Oh. So I am not the only one??
(I don't think I've ever said it out loud either, at least as regards the cathedral in Santiago.)
 
Last edited:
Walking Tours of the Camino!
Join our full-service guided tour and let us convert you into a Pampered Pilgrim!
VNwalking said:
Oh. So I am not the only one??
(I don't think I've ever said it out loud either, at least as regards the cathedral in Santiago.)
Click to expand...

Sssh, I won't tell anyone. Is this what we are talking about? Astorga cathedral, in particular, has a number of statues that make you think 'What exactly is going on here?'

For obvious reasons, (it coincided with the heyday of mediaeval pilgrimage) there is something, shall we say, of a bias towards Romanesque on the forum? That's great because until six months ago I knew little and understood less of the Romanesque and I thank the forum in general and pelegrina 2000 in particular for opening my eyes and setting me off on a fascinating line of discovery. But let's not disparage the Baroque. Firstly, it gave us Bach, Vivaldi, St. Paul's in London and St. Peter's in Rome. Secondly, it coincided with Spain's so-called 'Golden Age' of Cervantes and Velasquez. Thirdly it's there (as Sir Edmund Hilary said of Mt. Everest) and just about every cathedral in Spain you go in is full of it. Fourthly, whatever you think of the sculpture, the architecture is magnificent. Anyway, this thread was supposed to be about a Romanesque doorway. Cheers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Camino Photo

Most read last week in this forum

Similar threads

K
Taxi in Lugo
Replies
4
Views
628
Kmvreter
K
  • Tags credencial/sellos/compostela
    • Stamping in Oviedo's Cathedral on a Saturday
    Replies
    6
    Views
    1K
    Gingerbaldy
    Oviedo Cathedral - No longer free to pilgrims?
    Replies
    46
    Views
    4K
    David Tallan
    Menu
    Log in
    Register