Spain - Galicia - Santiago de Compostela (Old Town)

Cathedral : Portico of Glory (by Master Mateo, 1168-1188).

Portico of Glory is a masterpiece of Romanesque sculpture, located in the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in Galicia, Spain. Santiago de Compostela Cathedral is a UNESCO World Heritage Site designated in 1985. 

Sent by Puri from Madrid, Spain.

The Portico of Glory (Galician: Pórtico da Gloria) of Santiago de Compostela Cathedral is a Romanesque portico and the cathedral's main gate created by Master Mateo and his workshop, on the orders of King Ferdinand II of León. The king donated to Mateo one hundred maravedís annually between 1168 and 1188. To commemorate the work's completion in 1188, that date was carved on a stone set in the cathedral and on the lintel that supports the richly ornamental tympanum. Under the contract made in 1168, if Mateo was to renege on the deal to create the portico at any time, he would have to pay 1,000 gold pieces (aureos). The complete three-piece set took until 1211 to finish completely, at which time the cathedral was consecrated in the presence of King Alfonso IX of León.

Originally projected as a four-part division, the portal was modified into a three-part format, which changed the proportions of the entire ensemble. Containing more than 200 works of scupture in Romanesque style, the portico is the artistic high-point of the cathedral and often considered the greatest work of Spanish Romanesque sculpture. The Pórtico de la Gloria consists of an inner double-arched porch and finished with an outer western façade. The lateral archivolts were left undecorated, which may have been due to time restraints to finish the gate for the Jubilee of 1182 and formal procession of pilgrims.

The pure Romanesque fabric was altered slightly and later encased with a Baroque facade. Before the facade was erected, the portico would be seen from afar and would drawn pilgrims up a large flight of stairs to approach it. Without door valves, the three large arches were decorated with angels and foliage and framed a view of the ciborium and altar at the eastern end of the nave. Figures representing prophets and apostles form the columns and jambs welcoming pilgrims inside the church (read more).

Spain - Galicia

Ferrol-Ortegal
Galicia

Sent by Arantxa from Barcelona, Spain.

This is Wikipedia : Galicia (Galician pronunciation: [ɡaˈliθja]) is an autonomous community and historic region, in northwest Spain, with the status of a historic nationality, and descends from one of the first tribes of Celtic heritage in Europe, the Kingdom of Galicia. It is constituted under the Galician Statute of Autonomy of 1981. Its component provinces are A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense and Pontevedra. It is bordered by Portugal to the south, the Spanish regions of Castile and León and Asturias to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Bay of Biscay to the north.

Besides its continental territory, Galicia includes the archipelagos of Cíes, Ons, Sálvora, as well as Cortegada Island, the Malveiras Islands, Sisargas Islands, and Arousa Island.

Galicia has roughly 2.78 million inhabitants as of 2008, with the largest concentration in two coastal areas, from Ferrol to A Coruña in the north-west and from Vilagarcía to Vigo in the south-west. The capital is Santiago de Compostela, in the province of A Coruña. Vigo, in the province of Pontevedra, is the most populous city, with 297,332 inhabitants (INE 2009).

Galicia has its own historic language, Galician, which is related to Portuguese since the Middle Ages. Although essentially derived from Latin, Galician has significant Celtic and Germanic content. Particular features are the extended use of the "solidarity pronoun", inexistence of perfect tenses, and the "verb answer" instead of "yes/no answer". There is similarity with Gaeilge (Irish) and Irish English on these facts.