The west porch or ‘Lonja
Mayor’ [1 to 4] was built at a later date to both the cathedral and
the west portal, having been added around the year 1080. It is a heavy structure
with an articulated barrel vault supported on short, thick columns with
large capitals decorated with plant motifs. A transverse arch runs across
the vault at about the midpoint and, originally, there were four openings
in the side walls of the porch, each with double semicircular arches. These
arches rested on large capitals with their corresponding columns and bases.
The large capitals adjacent to the west
wall of the cathedral are not structural; they do not penetrate the wall,
but were positioned there after the wall had been built [12 and 13].
It is one of the most interesting areas
of the cathedral because of the profound meaning the door of the temple
had as the symbolic entrance to the Heavenly Jerusalem.
It is a penitential entrance entreating
all who enter to beg forgiveness and show remorse. The iconography of the
sculptures, with the Trinitarian
Chrismon flanked by its two lions, contributes to this end.
The
lion on the right, crushing a bear and a basilisk under its paws, symbolises
the forces of evil. The inscription over it in Latin reads: “The powerful
lion defeats the realm of death”.
The
one on the left, ‘the merciful lion’, represents Christ
pardoning the repentant sinner, who is shown prostrated under the lion’s
paws and holding a snake in his hands. The inscription over it in Latin
reads: “The lion knows to spare the fallen and Christ those who beseech
his mercy”.
The meaning is clearer on reading the inscription
in Latin over the lintel: “If you want to live, you who are subject
to the law of death, come here supplicant, rejecting all destructive pleasures.
Free your heart of sin so as not to die a second death”.
This entrance
to the cathedral, built as a narthex, was apparently constructed as a place
to celebrate the penitential rite of Ash Wednesday, a collective rite performed
before the prelate which was the prelude to Christ’s reception of
the faithful at Easter.
Structures added at later
dates have resulted in the loss of some of the original openings into the
west porch: the north arcade and that nearest to the door on the south side
have all been sealed at different times since the construction of the cathedral.
The low barrel-vault is reinforced by two transverse arches which are supported
on engaged pilasters. Apart from the transverse arch already mentioned (situated
about midway along the vault), there is another nearer to the exterior which
is suggestive of an entrance arch leading into the space [1 and 2]. On the
exterior, a solid cruciform pillar is formed on each side of the entrance
arch by the combination of three elements: both buttresses together with
the pilasters already mentioned and the support structures of the arches
of the adjoining openings.
Two pairs
of opposing arches decorate, and are embedded in, the ‘modern’
side walls of the porch and these, as well as a simple impost at the point
of union between the pilasters and the vault, help to form a genuine nave;
a continuation of the inner central nave and antechamber of the cathedral.
The portal has six archivolts:
the two supported on capitals are of baquetón or large roll moulding
and the rest are simple and unadorned. Framing the whole thing is a hood
mould of chequer ornament.
Over the capitals there is a continuous
abacus decorated with cane ornament and all of this is supported on tall,
cylindrical, smooth columns with attic bases. On the lower part of the column
just to the right of the door there is a simple decoration which basically
consists of concentric ‘bulges’ forming a succession of three
rings, with two more a little further down nearer the base. The corresponding
column on the left side of the door has a large area worn away as a result
of popular devotion – people touch it and then make the sign of the
cross.
In summary, it is a monumental narthex because
of its size more than its ornamentation; the outstanding feature being the
tympanum, both as an exceptional piece of craftsmanship and for its ideological
symbolism. It is a reference piece for all the others to be found along
the Camino Jacobeo (the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela).
At the end of 2009 this porch underwent
much needed restoration. The walls, floor, portal and all the ornamentation
were cleaned and new floor-level lighting was put in place, giving the whole
porch a renewed look. The restoration also resulted in the elimination of
the more modern statues of the apostles which had been erected here [14
and 15].
Some time after the construction of this narthex two more
stories were added; they were to serve as a belfry and a dwelling for the
caretaker. Despite the fact that they give the cathedral a very characteristic
outline the extra weight over the vault of the narthex may cause destabilisation
of the ‘Lonja Mayor’ in the long term.