Holy Door (Cathedral Of Santiago De Compostela) on:
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The Holy Door ( es, Puerta Santa, gl, Porta Santa), also known as the Door of Forgiveness ( gl, Porta do Perdón, links=no), is located at the rear of the Santiago de Compostela Archcathedral Basilica, in Galicia, Spain, and is opened only during a Jacobean Holy Year. During the Holy Year it remains open so that pilgrims, and others, may enter from the Plaza de la Quintana into the apse of the cathedral. Those who do so may earn a plenary indulgence.
Initially the door was known as the ''Porta de San Paio'' and was dedicated to St. Pelagius, for whom the monastery across the plaza is named.
Aymeric Picaud described the cathedral in Book V of the ''Codex Calixtinus'' as having three main 
The door may not be in its original place, nor is it the original door. Its location may have been moved as the church was rebuilt to accommodate the Chapel of the Savior. It is no longer directly accessible from the outside, as an expansion of the cathedral added a room between the apse and the external door to the plaza. The only marker of the original exit is an eight-pointed star on the floor to indicate its location.
Niches above the exterior door to the courtyard contain sculptures of James and his disciples Athanasius and Theodore. At the sides of the door are twenty-four sculpted figures of prophets and apostles (including St. James) some of which had originally been part of the cathedral's built in the workshop of sculptor
File:Vista de la PuertaReal de Santiago de Compostela.jpg , Porta Real
File:Apertura Porta Santa da Catedral de Santiago de Compostela.jpg, A line of people waiting to enter the exterior door
Background
Initially the door was known as the ''Porta de San Paio'' and was dedicated to St. Pelagius, for whom the monastery across the plaza is named.
Aymeric Picaud described the cathedral in Book V of the ''Codex Calixtinus'' as having three main portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
es and seven small ones: The east façade of the cathedral that overlooks the Plaza de la Quintana has two gates: the Porta Real (royal gate) and the Porta Santa (holy gate). The baroque construction of the Porta Real was begun under the direction of and by in 1666. It was completed in 1700 by Domingo de Andrade
Domingo Antonio de Andrade ( Cee, 1639 – Santiago de Compostela, 1712 was a Galician baroque architect, a leading figure in the emergence of Galician Baroque architecture.
Works
In the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela where, in 1671, he was ...
, who built some of the columns that span two floors of windows, a balustrade
A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...
with large pinnacle
A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainly ...
s, and an aedicula with an equestrian statue of Saint James (now gone), well adorned with decorative fruit clusters and large-scale military trophies. The kings of Spain entered the cathedral through this door, hence its name and the royal coat of arms on its lintel
A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of w ...
.
The Porta Santa or Holy Door is also known as the Door of Forgiveness ( gl, Porta do Perdón, links=no). During a Jacobean Holy Year (years when Saint James' Day, 25 July, falls on a Sunday), pilgrims who enter the basilica through the door earn a plenary indulgence granted by Pope Alexander III in his 1179 bull, ''Regis aeterni''. The door is usually closed with a fence and opened only during the holy year.
The door may not be in its original place, nor is it the original door. Its location may have been moved as the church was rebuilt to accommodate the Chapel of the Savior. It is no longer directly accessible from the outside, as an expansion of the cathedral added a room between the apse and the external door to the plaza. The only marker of the original exit is an eight-pointed star on the floor to indicate its location.
Niches above the exterior door to the courtyard contain sculptures of James and his disciples Athanasius and Theodore. At the sides of the door are twenty-four sculpted figures of prophets and apostles (including St. James) some of which had originally been part of the cathedral's built in the workshop of sculptor Master Mateo
Master Mateo (c. 1150 - c. 1200 or c. 1217) was a sculptor and architect who worked in medieval Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula during the second half of the twelfth century. He is best known now for the Pórtico de la Gloria of the ...
. Inside this door, through a small courtyard, is the true Holy Door.
The Holy Door opens into the ambulatory of the apse, between the Chapel of the Azucena or Saint Peter ( gl, Capilla de la Azucena o de San Pedro, links=no) and the , where the construction of the cathedral began in 1075. There is a belief that the door was designated as the door for pilgrims because of its placement near the ambulatory. The route the ambulatory makes around the altar, and the descent to the tomb of the Apostle James, mark the end of the pilgrimage. The exit from the tomb represents redemption and a new life, similar to that described in Plato's allegory of the cave.
Gallery
See also
*Further reading
*References
Bibliography
* * * * * {{authority control Santiago de Compostela Cathedral Individual doors