The controversy of the capitals

The concision of Ventura Rodríguez's design meant that a multitude of details had to be interpreted by his executor, Santos Ángel de Ochandátegui. This was taken advantage of by other local master builders and even by his subordinates to harshly criticise the way in which he was directing the work. In 1790, complaints about the mutilation he had to carry out on the Corinthian capitals in order to place them on the columns aroused the distrust of the chapter. Behind these attacks were hidden envy and resentment towards a foreign architect whose worth had led him to win the main commissions of the time. It was not project or its new language that was being questioned, but its executor. The recognition of the works in 1791 by Manuel Martín Rodríguez, Director of architecture at the Academy and nephew of Ventura Rodríguez, allayed the town council's fears and Ochandátegui continued to be in charge of the works until their completion in 1800. The same did not happen with the project water supply, as criticism turned to persecution and insults, to the point of suspending the works for a few years.