Art on the Camino

Architecture is the “Art of designing and constructing buildings,” according to the dictionary, and has the ability of housing other arts within it. The main elements include: plan, structure, form, walls, doorways, as well as supporting and supported structures (adintelados and abovedados). Image shows the interior of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

Sculpture is the art of representing a figure in three dimensions: height, width, and depth, like architecture. In the same way, sculptural art varies depending on how light falls on the object, as it is or how it relates to the background and also depending on your angle. The image shows a masterpiece of Romanesque sculpture: the Portico of Glory (el Pórtico de la Gloria) in the Cathedral of Santiago, from 1188.

Painters depict figures in color and in two dimensions, (height and width), while using perspective to give the illusion of a third (depth). While architects and sculptors are limited by natural laws, painters can represent the world how they imagine it. This is a painting by Jenaro Pérez Vaillaamil from 1849.

This is one of the simplest and most beautiful Romanesque doorways, at the church of Santiago in Carrión de los Condes (1160). The simple composition of the semicircular arch contrasts with the opulent iconography of the upper frieze, implying that it is a place where simple people acquire superior knowledge.

In the Catholic Christian churches of Latin rite, it is common for an altarpiece to be used, a collection of painted or carved figures that represent a story or event usually placed behind the altar. In most Jacobean churches, such as the Church of Santiago in Cigales, the Apostle St. James watches over the altarpieces.

While Romanesque pictorial art is mural, Gothic painters took advantage of the large windows used to lighten the weight of the building to display stained-glass art. The use of color and images endow the temple with its symbolic and religious instruction functions. Image shows the spectacular stained-glass windows of León Cathedral.

From the old Visogothic monastery of San Félix de Oca (6th to 9th centuries) all that is left are the remains of the apse of its chapel on the edge of the Camino, which has some ashlars and carved stone remains of Roman origin.

The cypress tree has been standing next to the chapel dedicated to San Salvador for more than 1,000 years. It is possibly an old monastic cell belonging to the nearby monastery of San Julián and Santa Basilisa in Samos.

Narthex and inostasis (Visigothic origin), semicircular raised arches (Mozarabic influence), plus the use of ashlar and masonry walls, are the defining feature of this beautiful work of art dating back to the mid-9th century, the church of Santa Cristina de Lena,

Few images are more representative of Spanish Romanesque architecture than the temple of San Martín de Frómista (mid-11th century), which had to undergo significant restoration in 1904 under the aesthetic canons of the time to remove all the additions and recover its original image.

The Renaissance tried to recover classic models of antiquity, but instead of imitating them, sought to interpret them and put their own stamp on old Greco-Latin works. This was performed using classical orders and by creating meticulously mathematically calculated structures. This is perfectly depicted in the convent of San Marcos, in León.

Baroque art is the art of movement: clever manipulation of architecture, dramatic sculptural tension, capturing spatial perspective and urbanism in the layout of the city. One example is the Facade of the Obradoiro of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

Neoclassicism, under the influence of the century of reason and enlightenment, is a new return to the classical artistic Greek canons, seeking the best aesthetic harmony in floor and elevation, a defining feature of the new times in religious buildings and civil buildings for public use. In the image, the main facade of the Rajoy Palace, seat of the city council of Santiago de Compostela and the presidency of the Junta de Galicia.

Entering the basilica sanctuary of La Virgen del Camino is awe-inspiring for any pilgrim, especially when the building (1955–66) is the architect’s opera prima, or debut piece of work, of the Dominican friar Francisco Coello de Portugal y Acuña (Jaén, 1926–2013, Madrid).