11/15: Spain's Holy Toledo Cathedral: When is it too much of a good thing?

Only an hour south of Madrid by train, Toledo was the perfect day trip from Spain's capital. The country's former capital, more than 2,500 years old, was greatly influenced by Romans, Jews, Visigoths, Moors and Christians and has helped make it one of Europe's cultural highlights. The Spanish government has forbidden any modern exteriors to maintain the city's historic appearance.

When we arrived at the early 20th century train station, it was so beautiful we didn't want to leave right away! It'd been declared a national monument for its architecture and art which celebrated the Jewish, Moorish and Christian cultures that coexisted in Toledo. The stained-glass windows were superb. 

The station's Moorish architecture with its clock tower and its interior decor seemed to bring us back to a more elegant time. If the station was so beautiful, we couldn't wait to see the city.

I felt like we were on a treasure hunt as we left the station and followed the fuschia line on the sidewalk toward the city center!

Some of the sights that greeted us en route into town!

From the new bridge we had a splendid view toward the ancient Alcantara Bridge over the Tagus River, the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula.

Ruins of the old monastery of San Pablo Granadal dated from 1229 before it was abandoned and built again in the city.

We'd sure never needed to go up an escalator to reach a city center anywhere before, let alone one hewn out of a mountain!

At the top of the mountain was a spectacular view of the city spread out in front of us and also, in the second picture, of the new bridge we'd just walked over from the train station.

The origin of the name of the main square in the old town, Plaza de Zocodover, came from the Arabic for 'livestock market.' I know it wasn't possible but there was the strongest smell of ham in the square! The square was once the scene of Inquisition goings on and bullfights but it was far more peaceful this past mid-November, luckily.

Because Toledo is the state capital of Castile-La Mancha, the regional government administrative building was in the square. It had three flags: one for Europe, one for Spain and one for Castile- La Mancha.

Just off the square was the city's mammoth library.

It was great fun strolling along the narrow, winding lanes toward the Cathedral.

This was our first glimpse of the cathedral in Spain's leading Catholic city, built on the spot where a mosque once stood. Begun in 1226 under the rule of Ferdinand III, the cathedral is considered the most representative of the Gothic architectural style in Spain. The last Gothic structures were finished in 1493 during the time of the Catholic monarchs, nine of whom were interred inside.

I could almost imagine a time when the light bulbs were candles and the visitors were pilgrims, and when every window must have provided both physical and spiritual light. There was window after window of 500-year-old gorgeous stained glass.

The High Altar was one of the most stunning in Spain with real gold on wood and paintings by Flemish, French and local artists. All the images celebrated the colorful Assumption of Mary in the center. At the top was the nine-foot tall crucified Christ. Oh, and by the way, the gold-plated iron grille which took four years to craft, is considered to be the best from the 16th century in Spain!

At the bottom was the image of Toledo:

On the side of the altar were simply lovely sculptures of the Apostles, created in the 1400s.

Behind the altar was the Transparente, a unique feature of the cathedral, in which a hole was cut into the ceiling during the 1700s to allow a sunbeam in during Mass. Because the opening faced east, each morning the rising sun reminded all that God was light. As we gazed up, we marveled at marble angels doing flip flops, gilded sunbursts and images of The Last Supper. It was one of the most amazing sculptures I'd ever seen.

The sight of two, red faded hats belonging to long-dead cardinals indicated that only a cardinal was able to choose a burial place in the cathedral and hang his hat over the spot until the hat rotted!

In the Chapel of the New Kings, Emperor Charles V moved the tombs of eight kings here who reigned before King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. 

The cathedral's Sacristy and Museum was like a mini Prado with 19 El Greco masterpieces. You may remember my commenting in the previous post that the artist made his home in Toledo after arriving in Spain from his native Greece. There were also works by such premier artists as Francisco de Goya, Titian, Diego Velasquez, Caravaggio and Bellini!

The ceiling painting was painted by an ambidextrous Neapolitan artist who also included himself and his 1600-era glasses!

El Greco's 1579 painting of Christ Being Stripped of His Garments was hung, at the artist's request, in the room where priests prepared themselves for Mass. 

The Betrayal of Christ was a religious painting by Goya which showed Judas preparing to kiss Jesus, therefore identifying him to the Roman soldiers.

Other paintings by El Greco:

Portraits of Toledo's archbishops hung on both sides of the door.

The Choir had exquisitely carved upper and lower stalls from the 13th century and two organs.

The Madonna:

The choir grill seemed to be as ornate as the one to the high altar.

The Treasury may have been small but it had a radiant, 10-foot high, 430-pound monstrance, built in 1517, designed to hold the Holy Communion host during the festival of Corpus Christi as it's paraded through Toledo. It was impossible for me not to stare at the phenomenal number of diamonds, emeralds, rubies and 400 pounds of gold-plated silver. The inner part of the monstrance, a century older, was made of 35 pounds of solid gold brought back from the Americas by Columbus! 

I read that the monstrance was not intended to be ostentatious but to provide structure befitting the host. I certainly appreciate those worthy intentions but still found the sheer amount of gold and gems to be close to grotesque. 

It was so refreshing to walk in the peaceful Cloister after seeing the overwhelmingly ornate Cathedral. The door a the end of the hallway used to be opened daily to give bread to the poor.

The Chapel of San Blas was completed in 1392 and contained the alabaster tombs of the bishop, his nephew and faithful adviser. It had an octagonal floor as it was based on the Resurrection. The ceiling and walls were adorned with sublime 14th century Italian frescoes.

In the middle of the cloister were trees still full of oranges in mid November. The cathedral was much grander than anything in Segovia or Madrid, but that made sense as Toledo has long been the headquarters for the Catholic church in Spain and the city had been the country's capital.

The Visigothic Mass in Latin in the cathedral's Mozarabic Chapel was the oldest surviving Christian ritual in Western Europe. Toledo's Mozarabic community of 1,500 people traces their roots to Visigothic times.

Our cathedral admission included entrance to the Colegio de Infantes, and its spectacular collection of wall hangings and tapestries belonging to the cathedral.

The Triumph of the Eucharist consisted of six tapestries woven in Belgium around 1676 following a series of cartoons (!!) by Peter Paul Rubens. All but the first picture were small images of the immense tapestries to give you a better sense of how beautiful, striking, sensational - you pick the word - they each were.

The interest in tapestries inspired by the Old Testament began to wane in the 17th century although weavers continued to produce series on the life of King David. The cathedral's tapestry collection included three depicting King David and seven featuring King Solomon.

Another series contained five tapestries representing various episodes in the life of a legendary character in antiquity, a common theme in 17th century Flemish tapestries, which frequently featured mythological or historical heroes. Some scholars have identified the series as excerpts from the life of Alexander the Great.

A six-tapestry series illustrated the most significant moments in the lives of six Toledo bishops who later became saints. The top border of each listed the saint's name and his most important virtues and works. They were woven in Brussels based on cartoons attributed to another artist.

We'd been lucky enough to see what I would have previously described as the most glorious vestments, but these were far superior in terms of intricacy, complexity of design and sheer magnificence. I only wish my photos could do better justice to these works of art but at least you get a sense of the wonder we had seeing both the vestments and tapestries.

In the entrance was a terrific monument to Jesus Christ.

Neither of us could understand how we managed to have the entire museum to ourselves the whole time as the adjacent cathedral had been mobbed, especially by Asian tour groups. I certainly didn't regret there weren't others there but just thought it sad that so many people chose to ignore the most outstanding collection of tapestries we've yet to see. One of these days or years, we hope to visit Belgium where we'd likely see more Flemish tapestries out the wazoo but these will have to 'suffice' until then!

Now that we were a little further away from the cathedral, we had a much better sense of its grandeur from the from the Plaza de la Ayuntamiento.

Next post: I had hoped to fit most of what we saw in Toledo in this one post but I've run out of energy and time. So, more of Holy Toledo plus El Greco Museum in the next one.

Posted on January 13th, 2019, from suburban Denver.