St. Anthony, Hog's Legs, and on to Toledo

The royal chapel of St. Anthony of Padua was painted by Goya and became his tomb. Lovely frescoes of a joyous and hopeful nature are recognizable by his signature use of grey and black. The cupola is the central work. As one walks around to see it from all angles, the balustrade offers several trompe l’oeil effects.

The tapas are sensational, of course. Humberto took me to one of his favorite little bars (they all seem to have non-alcoholic beer ON TAP, which is a new one for me). There I had little open-faced sandwiches of mushrooms, tuna, beef, and – best of all – morcillo. This is a minced tripe concoction with piñon nuts. Very delicate and not at all strong.

The Spanish are extremely proud of their ham. Humberto says the French get most of theirs from Spain.] their tyopical tapas-bar's awning says "tapas - bocadillas - jamboneria" (tapas, sandwiches, ham). the butchers [on every block] sell ham from EUR 10/kg to EUR 90/kg (that;'s about $54/lb!) for bellota, which is supposed to be the best. All of these tapas bars have whole hog’s legs – hoof and all –  on display behind the bar, in special holders designed for easily shaving slices of the fancy ham.

I went on to Toledo the next morning. I found a sweet little, medieval-feeling B&B RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET from the cathedral. Really. the windows of my corner room open right onto the square in front of the south transept, which is the entrance. And it is CHEAP (about$65 including breakfast and free WI-FI).

On my first visit to the vathedral, i discovered that a mozarabic Rite mass is SUNG EVERY DAY, so I will attend tomorrow, before going on to Cordoba. Today, I had a good look at the famous retablo (all gilded) and the glorious choir. The place is apparently an old abbey or something, because they have a chapter house. There is also a ten-foot, four-hundred-pound monstrance, which is still used on Corpus Christi processions.

But best of all were the Greco apostles, almost casually displayed as portraits in the sacristy. And at one end, the fabulous Stripping of Christ. Also Titian's portrait of Paul III, hung by the door as an afterthought!  [Paul III has his faults (he was one of the Popes during the reign of Henry VIII) but he also issued a Bull (Sublimus Dei, 1537) ththe indigeno9us people of at forbid the enslavement of  the indigenous people of the Americas, who were declared to be human beings, not to be robbed of their freedom or their possessions. Although this decree was later withdrawn, it became a kind of Magna Carta, nevertheless, cited by De las Casas and others.]


After a short rest in the Casa Cisneros [this is another Cisneros: not the Abat of Montserrat,whose name was given to the hotel there, but the cardinal who preserved the Mozarabic Rite, here] I went to see the interment of Count Orgaz and the old main synagogue. The Greco painting is one of the treasures of the city, and it can't be seen anywhere else.

As the nobleman's corpse is interred, it is shown tended by St. Augustine (the bishop on the right) and St. Stephen (the deacon on the left ~ both in cloth-of-gold vestments.). I notice how the visual line seems to make an elongated "S", beginning at the bottom with St. Augustine's curved back, then curving in the opposite direction, beginning at the tip of his mitre, up through the angels to John the Baptist's thigh, where it curves back again with the Precursor's back and head, right up to the Glorified One. The motion is a swirl from earth to heaven.


Notice also how the Precursor's left arm exactly echoes the bend of the corpse, and how the two golden figures outline a kind of mandorla, in the same way that The Virgin and the Precursor do above. The n lower one cradles the dead Co9unt; the upper one opens to God, Who welcomes the new Saint.


The Green Guide observes that Greco was deeply interested in this cosmological scheme. many paintings are divide in half, with heaven above and earth beneath, emphasizing that our earthly lives are nothing but a period of gestation before our heavenly birth. The terrestrial mortals are all in black and white. The color is reserved for the celestial immortals.


The Synagogue of the Dormition of Mary is a museum that was once the main synagogue in the city. Then it became a church dedicated to the Dormition (Transito, in Spanish: Mary-in-transit!). The long, high, rectangular space is just magnificent. The wooden-decorated ceiling is indescribable. 

And the Moorish arches, high at "clerestory" level,  give the space a rhythmic peace.

I have to admit that I found this place more uplifting, on the whole,  than the late-gothic cathedral, with its extremely busy retablo. the best part of that was the claustro adjacent. But then, maybe it's just my mood. the Sephardim must have really had something going, though, to be able to create such a masterpiece. (Now, the old synagogue also houses a small museum of Sephardic Judaica). 

It is all unbearably poignant. for some reason, I hadn't known before that Jews lived safely and happily in Christian Castille for centuries. - not only in Cordoba and Moorish Spain. The high point was the 13th Century, when Ferdinand III encouraged the Jewish community,protected it, and promoted social harmony. This contemporary of the anti-Jewish King St. Louis IX of France also became a saint. LA's San Fernando Valley is named after him! He is my new hero. His successor, Alfonso X (the Wise) carried on his policies and formed a special council of Jewish advisers on cultural and political matters.

All this came to a halt in the next century, and then came another Ferdinand (of Aragon) and his wife, Isabella. They expelled the Jews in1492 and started the inquisition to root out those who only pretended to convert so they could stay. We all know this story, but somehow the tolerant Christian past escapes our attention, and we seem to think that only the Moors were enlightened. It is good to learn that at least SOME of the Christian Spanish monarchs were not intolerant creeps! 

The giant ostensorium on its annual Corpus Christi outing.