Page:A Handbook for Travellers in Spain - Vol 1.djvu/71

Rh stalactical pendentives in stucco. This style ends with the conquest of Granada, 1492. The Alhambra is the most important example of this architecture, and following it the Alcazar of Seville.

Owing to the gradual conquests by the Christians of towns belonging to the Mohammedans, several of them continued to be inhabited by Moors, who kept their customs and religion. They were called Moriscos or Mudejares. The chief industries of the country were in their hands, and several churches and other buildings of importance were built by them. They accommodated their architecture to European or Christian necessities, and created a new style (Mudejar), a mixture of Christian and Moorish art, which is only to be found in the Spanish Peninsula. The finest specimens are of the 14th centy. The religious constructions of this period are remarkable for their brick-work in towers and apses, and fine wooden ceilings, artesonados. Examples exist at Toledo, Seville, and Granada, The interesting synagogues built by Moriscos are at Toledo and Segovia. As specimens of civil architecture, the finest are Casa de Pilatos (Seville), Palace of Mendoza (Guadalajara), Archbishop’s Palace (Alcalá), Casa de Mesa (Toledo). This style continued in vogue during the greater part of the 16th centy., although late Gothic was everywhere predominant. A most striking example in which the three styles—Moorish, Flamboyant, and Renaissance—are combined, is to be found in a chapel of the cathedral of Sigüenza.

This architecture was imported in the 11th and 12th centys. from France, even more directly than in other countries, owing to the immense influence exercised by a large number of prelates and priests, who came from Cluny and Cister, and the French princes and families who settled in Spain. The general features of this architecture are similar to those of France: the differences exist chiefly in the general plan of the churches rather than in their construction and ornamentation. The choirs in Spanish cathedrals are placed in the central nave, a traditional remembrance of the early basilica, In some localities, Segovia, Avila, and Valladolid, some of these churches have external cloisters, an Oriental or Italian modification, which never occurs in France or the north of Europe. Romanesque churches are very numerous in Spain. Some, such as the doorway of the Cathedral of Santiago (Galicia), and the Old Cathedral (Salamanca), are not surpassed by any similar buildings in Europe. Specimens are only found in the northern provinces, as the south was not conquered from the Moors until the 13th centy. Interesting examples exist in Asturias, Galicia, Castile, Aragon, and Cataluña. The cloisters of Gerona and Tarragona are unrivalled.

The specimens in Spain present no other variety than the choirs in the centres of the cathedrals. Although this style was imported from France early in the 13th centy., in the same manner as in Germany, Romanesque churches continued to be built, and Pointed architecture was only finally adopted at the end of the centy. The finest cathedrals in Spain of this architecture are those of Toledo, Leon, and Burgos. A great number of civil and religious buildings of this style are to be