Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. BURGOS CA THEDRAL—CONVENT OF MIRAFLORES - BURGOS TO MADRID, ¡HE Cathedral, the chief object of our pilgrimage to Burgos, is renowned ' as one of the finest in Europe.' As in many other cities, this noble pile is so built up against and crowded by dwellings that it is almost impossible to get any good view. But in whatever direction we approach, nothing can conceal the lofty spires, towering above the town, models of lightness, symmetry, and beauty. An old Spanish ballad speaks of the stars shining through their perforated stone, as the pride of Burgos. The effect reminds one of the tower of Strasburg, although the latter appears higher from standing alone. Commenced in the thirteenth century, this cathedral has been modified and added to downto the sixteenth, in the style commonly called ' Renaissance.' Our illustration is taken from a considerable elevation, and shows the west front ; the only point where a good exterior view can be obtained. The architectural details are from photographs, and are as accurately drawn as was possible on a small scale. An examination of the cathedral and its chapels, as indicated by Mr. Ford or Mr. Street, would have been a week's work,, which we did not attempt ; the ordinary visitor will be content probably, as we were, to be shown its chief beauties in one day. The sculpture in the chapels and on some of the monuments, the exquisite carving of figures and flowers in walnut-wood in the choir, and the general proportion and lines of the building, seemed to us most worthy of observation. The pictures are not very remarkable, as far as we were permitted to see them, but the interior was undergoing repair, and some of the chapels were covered up. The stained glass windows have nearly all been destroyed, and the flooring is...