"Grace, symmetry, grandeur and lightness"

LETTER IV.

ARRIVAL AT BURGOS. CATHEDRAL.

" Nothing can exceed the beauty of this front taken as a whole."

We are finally at Burgos, admiring its cathedral.  Well no, more than that: we're examining it with the judicious and discerning eye of a man of taste.

For comparison, I include here a link to tripadvisor's site on the same historic edifice.  On the day I visited it a tourist had left the comment "Interesting.  As cathedrals go, this is a nice example..."

Yes, well, that's about what my own response would be, but Nathaniel does it all in a bit more depth.  He analyses the cathedral's layout, sketches its history and speaks with knowledgeable enthusiasm of it - or of parts of it, anyway.  Something a bit tragic apparently happened to the centre tower, which fell down and was completed by several architects in a later style.  The style is not exactly bad, but it is different: "Taken by itself, the tower is, both externally and internally, admirable, from the elegance of its form, and the richness of its details; but it jars with the rest of the building."

Dammit. Only six out of ten for you, Centre Tower! About the West Front (above) though he has no reservations whatever:

"Here nothing is required to be added, or taken away, to afford the eye a feast as perfect as grace, symmetry, grandeur, and lightness, all combined, are capable of producing. Nothing can exceed the beauty of this front taken as a whole."

"Grace, symmetry, grandeur and lightness".  It seems these are the qualities that combine to make an outstanding piece of Gothic architecture.  And apparently it's so satisfying because it starts off very solid and simple, only becoming ornamental at the first story; is then even more richly adorned at the third level; and from there the two beautiful towers rise...

"connected by a screen, which masks the roof, raising the apparent body of the façade an additional story. This screen is very beautiful, being composed of two ogival windows in the richest style, with eight statues occupying the intervals of their lower mullions. A fourth story, equally rich, terminates the towers, on the summits of which are placed the two spires. These are all that can be wished for the completion of such a whole. "

Looking at the picture above...yes, I can sort of see what he means.


"They are, I imagine, not only unmatched, but unapproached by any others, in symmetry, lightness, and beauty of design. The spire of Strasburg is the only one I am acquainted with that may be allowed to enter into the comparison...."

But he quickly adds that even the spire at Strasbourg doesn't quite equal Burgos anyway. Granted it's twice as big, and yet still possesses an airy lightness, but "the symmetry of its outline is defective, being uneven, and producing the effect of steps. And then it is alone, and the absence of a companion gives the façade an unfinished appearance. For these reasons I prefer the spires of Burgos."

(You can compare them by going to this site dedicated to the Cathedral of Strasbourg. And to be honest, I think he's right.)

And we have learned a new word: "ogival", meaning ...pointy-arched.