Walking the Camino de Santiago
The Catedral de Santa María de Astorga is built using several different native stones of very different colour. As you can see here, the southeast tower is built of red stone. The door here is the designated holy door in Astorga for the Jubilee Year of Mercy. A few places had them, but I believe that this is only the […]
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After our views of the cathedral door and vault, I thought it might be nice to pull back and see how it all works together. Magnificently, as it turns out. Date: 20 April 2016 Place: Astorga (Castilla y León, Spain)
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As with many larger churches, the Catedral de Santa María de Astorga has three front doors. This is one of them – I believe it’s the larger, center door. There’s just something about a door. I love the detail work, which complements the amazing sculpture of the cathedral without trying to compete with it. Date: 20 April 2016 Place: Astorga […]
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And here’s the door through which we actually entered the cathedral. Sorry for the bit of blur. The arch depicts Christ on His heavenly throne, while angels crown His blessed mother Queen of Heaven. Note again the absence of statues in the niches flanking the door. Have I mentioned that I like doors? Date: 19 April 2016 Place: León (Castilla […]
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Sometimes it’s difficult to get a sense of scale from a photo of a door, such as León cathedral’s central door that I posted yesterday. So here’s another one of the doors. This one has a human-sized door cut into the main door. So now you can better tell how big this really is. The images over this door include […]
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Like many grand churches, León Cathedral has three front doors. This is the center one, featuring a smiling statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding the Christ child. The carving above the door features Christ on His heavenly throne at the Judgment, flanked by angels and saints. Just below, you can see some of the judged enter paradise, while others […]
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Liminal spaces. Passages from one place and time to another. They fascinate me. What lies behind this door? What transformation occurs as I pass through this gate? Who lives beyond? I took a lot of door and gate photos on both Caminos – enough for a book, really – and there is no reason to suppose I will ever stop. […]
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The tiny hamlet of Moratinos (population 22; 78 on weekends) is home to the 18th century Iglesia de Santo Tomás Apóstol. During our walk on the Camino, we’d seen some interesting church entrances, but never before or since a gate like this. Date: 18 April 2016 Place: Moratinos (Castilla y León, Spain) Today’s map:
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This is what was once the main entrance to the Monasterio de San Zoilo. I believe it leads into the monastic church, and that it is not used by the hotel. It’s always strange to me to see a great and grand entrance being forsaken in favour of a side door, but it seems to be a not uncommon thing. […]
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It’s no secret that I like photographing liminal spaces. I was struck by these three doors in the town of Tardajos, at least partially because of the contrast of three different styles of architecture. First, we have Romanesque, then a primitive Gothic, and finally what I will cheekily call Modern. I think of these three, I most prefer the Romanesque. […]
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