Palacio de Gelmírez and Exhibition St. Francis and His Time. Santiago de Compostela. Part 4. Salón de Fiestas (Refectory).

In this Part 4 of our visit to the Palacio de Gelmírez we will focus our attention on the Salón de Fiestas or refectory, Gothic, the most outstanding room of the Palacio.

We will divide the visit into two parts. In the first we will see the Salón itself with its extraordinary artistic and architectural richness. In the second part we will see the exhibition, the panels and the various works exhibited in the Salón de Fiestas.

View of the room, beside the entrance of the stairs that bring us here from the Romanesque old kitchen of the Palacio and from Sala Manrique.

We can see five of the six sections of the ribbed vaults of the Salón.

From here we start the visit to the Salón de Fiestas (Party Hall) or Refectory or Salón Real (Royal Hall) or Salón de  Banquetes (Banquet Hall) or Salón Sinodial (Synodal Hall) or Salón de Ceremonias (Ceremonial Hall). With all these names the most outstanding room of the Palacio is known.

We will see all the corbels and other architectural elements highlighted in a circular movement to return to this part of the Salón.


This is one of the keystones of the vault. Figure of an angel holding the sun in his hands.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_(architecture)


History: Master Pedro Boneth directs the construction of the Salón de Fiestas, at the initiative of Archbishop Juan Arias, in the second half of the 13th century in 1260.

Let us remember:

The old palace residence of Archbishop Diego Gelmírez was destroyed by a popular revolt in 1117. From the year 1120 the archbishop began the construction of the present day palace.

It was subsequently restored by Pedro Suarez de Deza (1180) and extended in the 13^th century by Archbishop Juan Arias (1260) and archbishops Lope de Mendoza (15^th century) and Alonso de Fonseca (16^th century).

In the 18^th century a third floor above the existing two is built. This fact motivated the construction of a new Baroque façade, the present one, to strengthen the walls of the original Romanesque façade.


This is another of the keystones of the vault. Figure of an angel holding the sun in his hands.

Interpretations of the meaning of the figures of the corbels in which the arches of the vaults are supported are different and varied. Different theories have been formulated by scholars over time.

We have taken our summary of these different interpretations from a work by Carlos Villanueva a professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela: La voz de los instrumentos en manos de los juglares (The voice of the instruments in the hands of minstrels).


Corbel 1: Musicians.

Professor Carlos Villanueva points out the close link this corbel shows with the workshop of Master Mateo in the presence of three crowned musicians especially significant: One who tunes his viola moving the bridge - left - like the old man No. 2 Portico of Glory; the other that points the finger at the flask - middle -; and the third holding a harp-psaltery - right -.

Interpretation of López Ferreiro: We are in the image of a dining hall, with kings, musicians and food, although the symbolic picture of the banquet goes beyond the mere image of the tribute to the Monarch.


This is a corbel located at one corner of the Salón de Fiestas next to the door through which this room is accessed from the north tower of the Cathedral, also called de la Carraca.

Corbel 2: Musicians. In the words of profesor Villanueva: It presents four musicians plying three vielles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vielle) and one citole (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citole): both located in the middle are "crowned"; those at the corners are minstrels.

Interpretation of Vicente Lampérez: Apart from foods, there is a blessing of the table, musicians livening up a Royal banquet, and the angels that concur with the moral principles of faith and charity, virtues that are supposed to the Monarch, as representative of God on earth, and besides, a sort of tribute by the archbishopric to the Monarch.


Corbel 3.

Interpretation of Sánchez Cantón and Pita Andrade: It is the representation of the banquet, objective and historical, of Alfonso IX de León and Berenguela (Berengaria of Castile), or the chronicle of pilgrimage of Fernando III and Beatriz de Suabia.


This is another of the keystones of the vault.

Corbel 4: Musicians. Standing minstrels playing viola, harp and double flute.

Interpretation of Serafín Moralejo: He says that it is a symbolic representation, thereby establishing a relationship between the sacred and profane level: Images are represented as an expression of the importance of the acts and material realities; earthly banquets evoke celestial banquets, with the representation of the monarch as the Vicar of Christ.


This is the part of the Salón de Fiestas which is most richly decorated, it would be the noble part where kings and other authorities were situated.

Corbel 5: It represents figures with the viands of the banquet, it is said that it would be a Galician empanada.

Interpretation of Manuel Núñez: It is an iconography about a promise of marriage, testifying to the recognition by Archbishop Don Juan Arias and his chapter, is the proof of a gesture of loyalty-tribute to the king by an official.


Corbel 6: It represents the Archbishop and is one of the most important because presides the Salón.

Interpretation of Carlos Villanueva: A trail of the Portico of Glory of the Master Mateo highly sophisticated in its symbolism but worn out in their profiles and images over the years.


This is the window to which we referred to in the picture taken from outside the Palacio, in the Plaza del Obradoiro, looking at the passageway. As is seen all this part of the Salón de Fiestas is located over the passageway.

Detail of the window.

We are next to the window. We see the rich decoration of the vaults. To the right of the image, the thick column upon which rests the arco de palacio (it is the main arch of the building).

Corbel 7: They are figures with the viands of the banquet.

Corbel 8: They are also figures with the viands of the banquet.

There is a small door next to the corbel 8. It could be a service door. These are the lintel and mochetas (mocheta is an architectural element that supports the lintel) of the door.

Corbel 9: Musicians. The two figures in the middle play the organistrum (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organistrum). A minstrel playing a viola on the knee (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viol) accompanies the two crowned musicians.

Corbel 10: These are figures of angels carrying cartelas with messages or advices regarding moral behavior. In one of the cartelas can be read: do not do unto others what you do not do for you. The figure on the left appears to give a hint of a smile which is interpreted as a new way of looking at the religious.

Corbel 11: It may represent the Royal Wedding, they are two figures joining hands. The figure on the right is that of a dragon and a man carrying a sword.

This is an angel with a cartela. It is situated in the arch that separates the original Romanesque façade from the new Baroque façade built in the 18th century.

Here we can see the curved form of the wall which belongs to the original Romanesque building and that motivated that in the 18th century a new façade was built.

From here the corbels should be in a perfect straight line, the curved form of the wall can be seen quite clearly though it is perceived much better seeing it in situ.

End of Part 4.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 5

Part 6