Showing posts with label tombs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tombs. Show all posts

Tuesday, 27 October 2015

This Would Be Good For Hallowe'en!

We're still in the Cartuja near Burgos, eagerly waiting to admire its greatest treasure - the sole reason it has been allowed to continue in existence as a Carthusian monastery - its splendid royal tomb. Actually it's a double tomb, containing the remains both of King Juan II and his queen, Isabella. And as royal tombs - even Spanish royal tombs - go, it's pretty weird-looking. Nathaniel's attempt to capture on paper its strange form, its intricate surface of carved alabaster, all lying beneath that great vaulted roof receding into the darkness...well, it could be a set from a Hammer Horror. If Dracula rose from this tomb we wouldn't be surprised. It's one of the creepiest illustrations in the book.
I think for me the effect is made worse by the vaulted roof, which reminds me very unpleasantly of a whale's skeleton. As seen from inside.