Cathedral and Plaza Santa Maria

Let's now tour the Cathedral. It's a little surprising that a town as small as Baeza gets a cathedral. Yet it was the first town in Andalusia to have one. This is probably due to the fact that Ferdinand III took Baeza back from the Moors in 1227, one of his first conquests. Baeza had been its own Moorish kingdom (taifa). Its emir was a vassal of Ferdinand until the emir was suddenly assassinated (but not by Ferdinand, of course, who was a saint.) Ferdinand also moved in Christians, hoping this infusion would keep the town from backsliding. As the center of the last stage of the Reconquista, Baeza merited a bishopric.



Several buildings edge Plaza Santa Maria including the Gothic Casas Consistoriales Atlas which is attached perpendicularly to the cathedral. The crests of the Emperor Charles V parents are intermixed with fine mullioned windows. History knows his mother as Joanna the Mad (Juana La Loca), perhaps because she had schizophrenia. She was often locked up but not too much, as she bore 6 children – 2 emperors and 4 queens. And all of them had children as well. If her genes passed madness, it was no impairment to ruling in those days. (Is it in ours?) This early 15th century building housed the religious courts; since 1991 it has sung a different tune as a music school.

Fuente de Santa Maria 

Facing the cathedral is this Renaissance fountain held up on both sides by caryatids by Ginés Martínez who brought water to the city in the mid 1500s. Behind it is the 17th century Seminary of Saint Philip Neri. Upon graduation, students would use bulls' blood to inscribe this graffiti.

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Nativity

The main entrance to the cathedral is through this Renaissance-style doorway slapped onto poorly masked arches. The central relief needs restoration and is a bit hard to decipher. Since the church is named Cathedral of Our Lady of the Nativity, we’d suspect this would be of the birth of Jesus. However, it appears that water is being poured over the head of an infant in the lower scene – a baptism that never happened.



The octagonal tower above appears to have been built upon the square base of the old Moorish minaret. The small opening is called Puerta de la Luna (Moon Doorway). Did it have a crescent once? The cathedral was built on the mosque site but long before that it had been a pagan temple.

Vandelvira -- the inside man

The haphazard amorphous exterior opens to the scene below: Andalusia’s greatest Renaissance architect, Andres de Vandelvira, reconstructed the severe Castilian interior in the 16th century. Several of the side chapels are also of his design. Here Corinthian columns lift  oven vaults over the three naves of the basilica.

Nave Chapels

Side chapels are often protected by screens which are themselves works of art. The chapels themselves are recessed only about the width of their altars. This cathedral did not need the long supporting buttresses that Vandelvira used to contain the deep chapels at his cathedral masterpiece in nearby Jaen. 



At left below is the Chapel of San Jose with caryatids stacked above statues of saints. At right is the 1560 polychrome chapel to the warrior archangel Michael designed by Diego Luca and Francisco Herrara. It's missing its statue of St. James. The early 18th century oil of San Miguel is by Francisco Pacorbo.



Below: Another great screen! Can the fence be more valuable than what it protects?
 

This 16th century metalwork is by Bartolomé de Baeza. While polychrome now, these were probably not the original colors. At top we see the Coronation of the Virgin. She stands directly above St. Andrew, a big saint in Baeza as we will soon see. On either side of Andrew, angels hold up the coats-of-arms of the sponsoring bishop.

While we’re talking heavy metal, how about this polychrome 6-sided wrought iron pulpit from 1580 shown below! Catch the patron saint of the smiley face dressed in green and red at right. Polychrome on metal seems to be the rage here. The underside appears to need a little restoration.



We suspect that this series of reliefs (below) resurrects Baeza’s re-Christianization. At center the Virgin and child hover over a set of keys usually associated with St. Peter. These keys resemble those on the Baeza’s town seal so they probably have some symbolism with the Reconquista. On the right is St. Andrew. Fernando III appealed to this saint as he invaded the city and decided to add the cross of St. Andrew to the Spanish flag to thank Andrew for his miraculous aid in taking this town from the Moors.

Processions

Like many historic Andalusian cities, Baeza has elaborate processions with large floats maintained by brotherhoods who come together to do good works and carry these contraptions on religious holidays. Often these floats reside in the churches between processions. Above left we have a solicitation along with suggested donations to support the brotherhood. The locals can get away with Nada, but we tourists seemed to be paying full fare. (At the moment though, this sign seems to have more specificity than most financial bailout plans.) At right we see one of the statues resting upon a wooden relief of the last supper.

Below: further elaboration of the Last Supper scene. Jesus appears to be having a bad hair day. Radiance is not always easy.



Thanks to Wiki, we found the picture below of similar last supper statues in action, seen here leaving the cathedral with its octagon tower in the background. 



Of even more interest is a large ceremonial monstrance carried in processions. Unhappy with the Nada contributions, the Cathedral has placed it behind the painting below. If you deposit a Euro...



...the oil painting will roll back (as seen at right) and  you will get to see the Baroque masterpiece shown below as it rotates for about a minute, showing you all of its silver carvings.

The sacristy door

Perhaps the finest sculpture is the Plateresque relief above the sacristy door (below). This leads into a working sacristy and then into the cloister and the small cathedral museum.

The cloister

Since this space was once a mosque, we supposed that this cloister may have been that building's courtyard.



This is especially likely when we note several Mudejar arches whose recesses have been converted to sparsely furnished chapels.



There's lots more to see in this cathedral and we've posted about 85 more pictures for those who wish to see them by clicking here.

Join us now as we wander the downhill steets leading to the lovely Plaza del Populo by clicking here.

---

  

Please join us in the following slide show to give Baeza the viewing it deserves by clicking here.

Baeza, Spain

---

Previous: Palacio Jabalquinto            Next: Plaza del Populo

TIP: Click on any picture to see it full size. PC users, push F11 to see it even larger.

TIP: See the rest of our travel pictures by clicking here.

TIP: See these pictures as a slide show by clicking here.