Archivolts and chambrana

The enormous display of figures in the seventy pieces that make up the archivolts and chambrace brings together a rich collection of characters in a perfect hierarchy.

In the inner archivolt we see six angels holding censers in their hands, which indicates that we are looking at a representation of a liturgical ceremony. The nine voussoirs of the second archivolt, always counting from the tympanum, show a pair of crowned bearded men playing musical instruments. Although they do not reach issue, there is no doubt that they are the elders described in the Apocalypse, around the throne. The third archivolt is filled with individual figures, standing or seated, mostly bearded, unrolling phylacteries. The first on the left-hand side, pointing to two tablets with his index finger, is Moses, while the others are other prophets. In the twelve scenes of the fourth archivolt, the repeated participation of a bearded man with a cruciform nimbus allows us to identify passages from the life of Christ: the baptism in the Jordan, the Samaritan woman, the wedding at Cana, the healing of the blind man, the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, the tribute of the coin, the healing of the deaf man, and so on. The thirteen voussoirs of the fifth archivolt narrate stories of saints: the beheading of John the Baptist, Saint Martin splitting his cloak, Salome before Herod - with the registrationERODES PUELLA -, Saint Lawrence on the gridiron, the executioners cutting off the breast of Saint Agatha, the arrest and crucifixion of Saint Peter and the stoning of Saint Stephen. The best-preserved keystones show the hand of God, which testifies to divine intervention, a seated angel carrying a cross and another holding a chrism.

The narrow chambrana is filled with figures of animal, human or diabolical nature that seem to allude to vices and beings of a negative character that haunt the world.

Angels and elders are part of the heavenly glory; they are followed by the prophets, chosen by God to convey his message before the incarnation of Jesus Christ; the Gospel passages illustrate earthly events and constitute part of the exemplary content of the cover, completed by the highlights of the lives of the saints, those that earned them glory.