Toledo Cathedral
The Cathedral of Toledo , Spanish Catedral de Santa María de la Asunción de Toledo , is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Toledo in Toledo , Spain . It is a major work of Spanish Gothic .
history
The church was founded in 1226. Ferdinand III. , called "the saint", laid the first stone in 1227 after he had torn down the old Visigothic church. This had previously been converted into a mosque by the Moors and they wanted to radically remove this influence. Science is not entirely sure about the first generation of builders. A document from 1227 mentions an architect named "Master Martín" who is said to have directed the construction work until 1234. The choir was finished in 1238. Then allegedly a “Master Petrus Petri” who died in 1291 came along. In Spanish sources he is also called "Pedro Perez". It is therefore assumed that this master could be identical with "Pierre de Corbie", with whom the French architectural historian Villard de Honnecourt designed the choir in his famous sketchbook (Swaan, p. 267).
Exterior construction
The characteristic west facade was begun in 1418 and completed at the beginning of the 16th century. It is flanked by two towers of very different looks. The 90 meter high north tower made of gray granite was started around 1400. The treasury is now located in the basement built at that time. The floors above were built by Alvar Martínez in 1425–1440. He did not continue the strict aesthetics of the base, but loosened up the upper floors with blind arcades , with cornices and a frieze made of black and white marble with inlaid blue and white azulejo ceramic. The top of the tower was completed from 1448 by Hanquín de Egas ( Annequin de Eycken ), a builder from Brussels. Above the final cornice of the square part there is an octagon surrounded by branches and a point that carries a triple crown of thorns staggered in height, which has made the tower particularly famous.
The dome of the significantly lower southern tower was designed in the 17th century by Jorge Manuel Theotocopuli , the son of El Greco.
The entire higher part of the facade was first renewed in the second half of the 16th century and then again in the late 18th century by the architect Durango.
The theme of the three-part portal system is “Hell” in the so-called “Portal of the Tower” on the left, “Forgiveness” in the middle (by Alvar Martínez around 1418 ) and the “Last Judgment” (1492–1493) on the right.
Master Hanquín de Egas also created the large portal on the south transept, the so-called lion portal "Puerta de los Leones". The tympanum was unfortunately massively changed later in the 18th century, but sculptures by Juan Alemán from the years after 1465 can still be seen in the walls . The portal system owes its name to the lions on the six pillars to which the grid is attached.
inner space
Modeled on the French Gothic cathedral of Bourges , the cathedral of Toledo has five aisles without a pronounced transept with a double ambulatory, but has an extensive, complicated chapel system to the east and northeast of the choir and a large cloister to the north of the nave .
This church is not a uniform structure; generations have worked on it. What is striking is the - even by Spanish standards - great emphasis on the width in contrast to the French model, although the central nave is 40 meters high. The aisles are together wider than the central nave. The cross-section shows a well-proportioned staggered height from the outer aisle over the inner to the main nave. If you add the narrow chapel corridors on the outside, the church looks like it has seven aisles.
The high windows of the central nave are drawn together with the triforium zone to form a "light unit". In contrast to the Bourges model, the inner aisle does not have its own triforium zone, but rather large windows.
Main altar
The huge main altar was carved by Petit Jean , Copin of Holland , Felipe Bigarny and Sebastian de Almonacid , gilded and painted by Francisco de Amberes and Jean of Burgundy . The work was completed in 1504, the year Queen Isabella died , as stated in an inscription on a base beam.
The theme of the immensely extensive picture wall, which takes up the entire width and height of the central nave, is the life and passion of Christ. The raised central passage is accompanied by three side strips that are staggered downwards in height and curved clearly forward, which merge seamlessly into the decoration of the choir side walls. The visitor is here in a world of images that encompasses the entire room. Two plinth strips form the base of the altar, of which the lower one has only a simple geometric decoration, the upper one, however, already an extensive scenic representation for each section under a Gothic canopy construction. The actual altar scenery rises slightly set back above it. In each of the five inner passages, three stories are arranged one above the other, also under canopies. In the central median are the scenes of the birth of Christ, the Assumption of Mary and - directly under the vault - the crucifixion.
Organs
There are two organs in the cathedral . They were built opposite each other, on the south and north sides of the choir. Both instruments date from the second half of the 18th century. The manuals of both instruments are divided at c 1 / c sharp 1 .
The epistle organ on the north side was built in 1755–1758 by the organ builder Pedro de Liborno Echevarría. The front and back were designed by German López. The instrument was modified several times in the 19th century.
The instrument has 32 registers on three manuals (51 tones) and a pedal , but has no couplers.
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- Subsidiary register: Tambor, Pájaros
The gospel organ on the south side of the choir was built in 1797 by the brothers José and Valentín Verdalonga. The instrument has 73 registers on three manuals and a pedal.
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- Playing aids: Two manual links as knee levers
Bells
The bell ensemble of the cathedral is on two levels: 8 bells hang visibly in the bell niches of the tower, and in the middle the Gorda bell. The remaining bells are on the level above the bell house.
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Surname |
Caster |
Casting year |
diameter |
Weight (kg, approx.) |
Suspension (mm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resurrección | Sancho de Isla | 1545 | 121 | 1026 | 1st level |
| San Joaquín y Santa Leocadia | Juan Antonio de la Vina | 1731 | 123 | 1077 | 1st level |
| San Juan | Pedro de la Sota | 1652 | 137 | 1489 | 1st level |
| Ascensión, Espanta diablos, Sermonera | Sebastian de la Torre | 1545 | 146 | 1802 | 1st level |
| Calderona | Garcia (Cordoba) | 1479 | 162 | 2462 | 1st level |
| San Ildefonso | Pedro de Güemes; Antonio Velez de Foncueva | 1760 | 164 | 2554 | 1st level |
| San Felipe | Hedilla; Mazon; Alonso | 1860 | 169 | 2795 | 1st level |
| Encarnación, La Prima | Hedilla; Mazon; Alonso | 1850 | 171 | 2895 | 1st level |
| San Eugenio, La Gorda | Alejandro Gargollo | 1753 | 293 | 14564 | 1st level |
| El Ángel | 1913 | 50 | 72 | 2nd level | |
| Cuartos menor | Edoardo Lineares y Hijos | 1890 | 60 | 126 | 2nd level |
| Cuartos mayor | Bernardino de Solar | 1700 | 70 | 100 | 2nd level |
| Horas | 1677 | 120 | 1001 | 2nd level | |
| Campana del Santo | Gregorio de Barcia | 1682 | 200 | 4632 | 2nd level |
| San Sebastian | Gregorio de Barcia | 1681 | 216 | 5835 | 2nd level |
literature
- Xavier Barral I Altet (ed.): The history of Spanish art . Cologne 1997, p. 163
- Alain Erlande-Brandenburg : Gothic Art . Herder, Freiburg-Basel-Wien 1984, Fig. 26, p. 542
- Wim Swaan: The great cathedrals . Cologne 1969. p. 267 ff.
- José Luis Sancho: The Cathedral of Toledo . Aldeasa 1996
- Toledo - Monuments and Landscape. Cordoba undated [1999?], Figs. 66–94
Individual evidence
- ↑ More information on the history of the choir organs ( Memento of the original from February 18, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ For disposition ( Memento of the original from December 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ To the disposition of the Gospel organ ( Memento of the original from December 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Information about the bells (Spanish)
Web links
Coordinates: 39 ° 51 '25.5 " N , 4 ° 1' 25.1" W.