Gloria porch
Introduction
The so -called porch of glory is currently only the interior decoration of a nartex or porch with four doors. In its origin, the decorative set was double, as there was also decoration in the opposite wall. This first decorated wall was destroyed when the current baroque facade was built in the 18th century, leaving only the inside of the porch with Romanesque decoration.
Developing
As has come to today, the work that in a way closes all this cycle of religious sculpture, is difficult to contemplation. It is called the porch of glory because in the luneto of the central arch there is a relief with the scene of the glory of the Lord, surrounded by angels and a semicircular frieze with the 24 elders of the apocalypse, which we have often found in the decoration in the decoration Romanesque sculptor in France.
An registration recorded in the monument itself gives the date of this amazing sculpture work and the name of the distinguished teacher who directed it: in the year of the incarnation of Mr. 1188, on April, the Matthew Matthew was placed from the main door of the Church of Santiago, which directed the work of these portals from its foundations.
In the Santiago Archive there is a 1168 document that attests that at that time the teacher Mateo worked in the work, probably in the lower part of the porch, because this is on a crypt that serves to gain the slope of the land on the side on the side from the square. The magnificent portal would not be free from scaffolding until 1211, in which the Church was consecrated, but it must be considered a work of the end of the 12th century.
All work responds to the same style, and although parts are distinguished that do not have the quality of others, the inspiration of the master director predominates. It is not a mosaic of different styles; The composition and detail of the porch of glory have a homogeneity that can only result from a governing mind, recognized and admired by its collaborators and disciples. They are found in the porch of glory perfection and classical serenity; You can even talk about Hellenism; Such is the perfect proportion and elegance of detail. The work is carved in the toughest granite, which was chrome poli, and although the polychromy was restored in the seventeenth century, it remained when the same range of colors remained.
conclusion
This amazing set is stylistically located on the border between the Romanesque and the derivation towards the sensitivity of the Gothic. Thus, at the time when the porch of glory was worked, Compostela was a city full of artistic and religious enthusiasm, overflowing with spirit and intellectual communication with the most advanced centers in the West. The polychromy of glory warns us that this sculptural Hispanic school would be accompanied by another pictorial.
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