Of the three doors which lead into the cathedral, the western is crowned by three rounded arches reposing on simple columns. The tympanum as a decorative element is lacking, as is also the low relief, which is usually superimposed above the upper arches. The latter are, however, carved in the most elaborate manner. As regards the other two portals, the northern and southern, their composition, as far as generalities are concerned, is the same as the western, excepting that they are surrounded by a depressed semicircular arch in relief, the whole of a primitive design.
[Illustration: NORTHERN PORTAL OF ORENSE CATHEDRAL]
The towers of the cathedral are not old. The general impression of the building from the outside--unluckily it cannot be contemplated from any distance, as the surrounding houses impede it--is agreeable. To be especially observed are some fine fourteenth-century (?) windows which show ogival pattern, but either of timid execution or else of a bold endeavour on the artist's part to subdue solemn Gothic to the Romanesque traditions of the country.
The interior has been restored and changed many a time. In its original plan it consisted of two aisles and a nave with a one-aisled transept, and, just as in Lugo, an apse formed by three semicircles, of which the central was the largest, and contained the high altar. To-day, though the general appearance or disposition of the church (Roman cruciform with exceedingly short lateral arms) is the same, an ambulatory walk surrounds the high altar, which has been moved nearer the transept in the principal nave. The vaulting is ogival, reposing on solid and severe shafts; the aisles are slightly lower than the central nave, and the _croisée_ is surmounted, as in Santiago, by a handsome cupola similar in construction to that of Valencia, though more reduced in size, and of a less elegant pattern.
The lack of triforium is to be noted, and its want is felt.
The northern aisle has no chapels let into its exterior wall, but a long row of sepulchres and sepulchral reliefs to replace them. Some of them are severe and beautiful. The choir has finely carved stalls, and the Gothic _retablo_ is the only one of its kind in Galicia, and one of the best in Spain.