The Romanesque cloister: northern and eastern galleries

The narrative begins with the pillar in the northwest corner. There it has been identified, although not with total consensus among scholars, the topic of the Virgin Mary's suitors, which could have been followed by the advertisement of the angel and the visitation (both scenes are not preserved today). There is no doubt, however, in the scene of the Nativity, with Mary lying down, the Child in the manger, St. Joseph asleep and the angel who appears to him in a dream. Then comes, on three columns, the adoration of the Magi and the advertisement and adoration of the shepherds, and in the next double, the presentation in the temple with Mary, Simeon and a large group of companions. In the broken capital located next to it should be represented the second dream of Joseph, the slaughter of the innocents and the flight to Egypt, but unfortunately the original basket has not reached our days.

The representations of the public life of Jesus Christ are not numerous. We recognize the Wedding at Cana in a capital on two shafts. The Baptism of Christ and the preaching of St. John the Baptist share the central pillar (in a very restored basket; in particular, the figure of Jesus, a mass in which the basic features of the protagonist are outlined, is the result of a 20th century intervention). The triple capital that follows may have been the site of Christ's temptations, but it has not survived to the present day. The one that follows has traditionally been praised as one of the most outstanding pieces of the cloister, due to the naturalness with which the artist translated into stone the details of the resurrection of Lazarus. Specifically, attention has been drawn to the gesture of several attendees holding their hands to their noses, thus giving visual form to the phrase "Lord, it smells already; it is the fourth day" with which Martha addressed Jesus, a phrase that served to dispel doubts as to whether Lazarus had really died. Other dispositions of the participants are equally significant: the sisters of the deceased kneeling before the Lord, the gesture with the index finger on the part of Jesus Christ, the incorporation of the corpse wrapped in the mortuary sheets, etc. This accumulation of details reveals the master's knowledge use of figures of the miracle rooted in Byzantine tradition.

The last triple capital before the northeast pillar is dedicated to the entrance in Jerusalem, equally rich in details, such as the character in the corner who bends down to take off a garment with the intention of throwing it at the Savior's step, an action completed by the one who precedes him. With this scene begins the cycle of the Passion, which in Tudela receives a particular development . In the northeastern pillar is seen, in the first place, the deliberation of the committee of the priests and the Pharisees who agreed to kill Jesus for the benefit of the Jewish people. It is followed by the passage in which Judas accepts the coins in exchange for betraying his Master, with the anecdotal detail of the devil whispering in the ear of the felon. The other two capitals of the pillar summary the paschal supper: in one Jesus kneels to wash the feet of St. Peter, who brings his right hand to his head in allusion to the phrase attributed to him in the Gospel of John ("Lord, not only the feet, but also the hands and the head"); in the other, St. John leans on the shoulder of Jesus, who reaches out his hand to give Judas the morsel he had just dipped, thus identifying the traitor to the other disciples.

On the columns of the eastern gallery the main episodes of the Passion are depicted. In the prayer in the Garden of Olives some of the disciples are seen reclining and others completely asleep, to fit the story told by the evangelists. In the arrest are depicted both the kiss of Judas and a large issue of companions equipped with all subject weaponry (shields of different shapes, swords, sticks, axes, etc.) and the cutting of the ear of Malchus by St. Peter. Although the capital of the Crucifixion is missing, fortunately others have been preserved with not so usual passages, such as the request for permission, by Joseph of Arimathea, to bury the body of Jesus, followed by the burial itself, in a beautiful composition in which Nicodemus and Joseph spread the shrouded body on top of a sarcophagus on columns, located in front of a tree of intertwined branches and adorned with a rhomboidal patron saint , in the manner of Romanesque sepulchres. The scene of the Jews' request to Pilate to order the guard to keep vigil in front of the tomb is not very common either. On another side of the same basket we see the sealing of the sarcophagus and the placement of the soldiers.

Two scenes alluding to the Resurrection occupy the central pillar of the eastern gallery. On the one hand, the oft-repeated visit of the three Marys at the tomb, which they find open and empty, as test the burial shroud that peeks over the edge of the sarcophagus and the slightly tilted lid. On the other side there is an interesting descent into limbo where Jesus Christ, victorious over death, grasps with his right hand the arm of Adam, who lets himself be carried with a sorrowful face. Behind him, Eve and other characters await salvation. Then come the apparitions to the Marys, to the Magdalene, to an apostle, to the disciples of Emmaus, in a capital often reproduced to illustrate medieval pilgrimages, and to the apostles, then sent to preach the Gospel. The four capitals of the southeast pillar depict the Ascension (with the apostles and the Virgin looking up) and Pentecost, complemented by two large reliefs of Jesus Christ located on the upper part of the pillar itself.