Cathedrals--page 1 (of two pages)

The Old Cathedral, from the side The city of Salamanca has two cathedrals, in part because the large number of students at the university necessitated the bulding of the so-called "new cathedral," which stands next to the earlier cathedral. The first cathedral, built on the site of an ealier Visogothic church, was begun in the 12th century (after the Christian reconquest of Salamanca) and is usually defined as Romanesque in style--although it was built in stages over a century and a half.
Gothic elements: the buttresses, the dome of the New Cathedral, and decorative stonework
Side entrance of the Old Cathedral The Romanesque tympanum depicts the Entry into Jerusalem. Statues of saints and inhabited scrollwork decorate this side entrance.
		The oculus above the tympanum with grotesque animals
		The front entrance, designed by Juan Gil de Hontañón Scenes from the birth of Christ occupy the tympana over the double portal. The trumeau depicts the crowned Virgin.
	Tower on the front

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