Cathedral of Tui. The Inside. Part 5. The Cloister (III).

This is the third part of our visit to the Cloister of the Cathedral. We will see the gallery located to the south.

View of the south gallery from the southeast corner in which el Cristo de las Batallas is located.

Before starting our walk through the south gallery we look the garden from this point. We see the south façade of the church and the north gallery of the Cloister and also to the right of the picture the Episcopal Palace over the east gallery.

This is a coat of arms of a bishop and chains (16th century). Chains delimited the space surrounding the Cathedral where criminals could ask for ecclesiastical justice. They preferred it and not secular justice due to better conditions in prisons and greater objectivity in trials.

View of the south gallery and archaeological remains from different historical periods.

The garden is seen from the center of the gallery.

These are ancient graves and other architectural elements.

We are just under the Tower of Soutomaior in the southwest corner of the Cloister. Before climbing the tower we see the garden (once more!!!) from this point.

View of the south gallery.

And now we see the west gallery.

To the tower.

The Tower of Soutomaior was built in the 15th century when the south gallery was rebuilt:

There are two viewpoint balconies. We can see the river Miño and the Portuguese bank.

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Battlements. We can see to the left the Episcopal Palace.

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View of the tower from one of the two viewpoint balconies.

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View of the river Miño and the International Bridge, the Fortress of Valença do Minho in Portugal.

We are in the viewpoint balcony beside the Episcopal Palace.

We return the tower from the viewpoint. We are over the roof of the south gallery.

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Now we can see from the same point to the right of the picture the Episcopal Palace and the south façade of the church.

The Tower of Soutomaior and one of the two viewpoint balconies.

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We go up to the top of the tower.

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From here we can see in the lower part of the picture the roof over the south gallery of the Cloister, to the right the Episcopal Palace over the east gallery.

Also the southern facade of the church is seen with the Chapel of Santa Catalina (square windows) over the north gallery of the Cloister and the dome which Bishop Don Diego de Avellaneda rebuilt in 1530. We see part of the bell tower located in the north façade of the church. It has eleven bells the oldest (1549) is called del Reloj o de Santa Ana the other being from the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

Lastly in the lower left the roof over the west gallery of the Cloister. And let us not forget the garden.

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We see now from the top of the tower the two viewpoint balconies and the river Miño. Also the buttresses that support the south wall of the Cathedral.

The portico over the doorway of the west façade is seen to the left of the picture.

View of the tower bell from the Tower of Soutomaior.

The End