San Sebastián Cathedral: Difference between revisions

Catedral del Buen Pastor de San Sebastián

The Good Shepherd Cathedral of San Sebastián (Artzain Onaren katedrala in Basque, Catedral del Buen Pastor de San Sebastián in Spanish) located in the city of San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, Spain, is the seat of the Diocese of San Sebastián, belonging to the Archdiocese of Pamplona. The most remarkable religious building of San Sebastián, endowed with a strong verticality, and the largest of Gipuzkoa, its construction took place in the last years of the 19th century in a Historicist Neo-Gothic style. Since 1953, holds the rank of cathedral.

History

In 1881, by Royal Order, was taken to San Sebastián a new parish division that included the creation of a parish, claimed for years by locals in the southern part of the city, which later became known as the Eixample of Amara. In August of 1887 the City Council gave an area between the river Urumea and Beach of La Concha, occupied by sand dunes and marshes, to build the temple. Until it was finished, the spiritual needs of the local congregation were met by a provisional parish, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, opened in March of 1888, this rudimentary temple was made of wood and was between Loiola and Príncipe streets.

The queen regent, Maria Christina of Austria, and his son, King Alfonso XIII, opened the temple in 1897

In December 1887 a construction meeting chaired by the Dean D. Martín Lorenzo de Urizar Zalduegui-Ariño defined the bases of the contest of projects and prefixed a budget of 750,000 pesetas, same as, the ability of the temple and its architecture, it should be pointed. The projects presented were four, with the path chosen by the donostiarra architect Manuel Echave, who was entrusted with the supervision of works. The new church would take the title of the Good Shepherd.

At the laying of the foundation stone was invited to the Spanish Royal Family, who was vacationing in the city. The events took place on September 29, 1888. The queen regent, Maria Christina, her childrens and the Infante Antonio, along with ministers and other officials, attended the solemn mass that the diocesan bishop D. Mariano Miguel Gómez held in the provisional parish of the Sacred Heart. Following the ceremony, the royal entourage moved to the site for the new temple and there proceeded to lay the foundation stone, which covered a leaden box, which were enclosed pictures of the Pope and the Royal family, several currencies of the time and copies of the Gazette of Madrid and of Ecclesiastical Gazette. The minutes of the ceremony was signed by the baby king Alfonso XIII,of two and four months old, for which her mother had to take her hand, the first time that the king his signature on an official document.

Echave went to execute the works having as master of the same to José Vicente Mendía and, after the death this, to the mason master Agustín de Zumalabe. The foundation work required a careful drainage of the site, to provide consolidated sand. For the general architecture was chosen sandstone quarries of Mount Igeldo, the vaults were made with tufa from Ocio (Álava) and slate roofs are brought Angers (France). The workers were all Basques. For the size of stone of the capitals, ornaments, windows and needles that decorate the interior and exterior were presented the models accepted by the local artist Julio Gargallo.

View of the interior of the Cathedral

After just nine years of work (including almost two in which it were suspended for lack of resources, and the tower was not yet crowned), the Church of the Good Shepherd was consecrated for worship on July 30, 1897. Again, attended the grand ceremony the Royal Family, the Queen Regent María Cristina, King Alfonso XIII and the Infanta María Teresa. The mass was officiated by D. Ramón Fernández de Piérola, Bishop of Vitoria, the diocese to which then belonged Gipuzkoa. The tower was completed in 1899 under the direction of Ramón Cortázar. In the end, the construction of the temple cost more than 1,500,000 pesetas, and that's not including the altars and altarpieces.

According to the papal bull Quo Commodus of November 2, 1949, in 1950 seceded of the Vitorian Diocese the provinces of Biscay and Gipuzkoa, becoming the Diocese of Bilbao and San Sebastián. The first bishop was the Catalan eclesiastic D. Jaime Font i Andreu, appointed to office on May 13, 1950 and took office on September 3 that year. With the need to choose a Donostiarra church to host the local diocese, the choice was, by its magnificence and modernity, the Church of Good Shepherd. On July 30, 1953, finally, the temple became the rank of Cathedral with the consecration of the new altar, serving as pastor D. Ignacio Lasquibar Olaciregui, who in 1954 took over D. Román Mendiguchia.

Then completed four years of reforms and changes were needed to put the temple to its new use as diocesan. Thus, it completely transformed the choir with the installation of a new table and the withdrawal of the original altar, of Florid Gothic style, carved in cedar wood by the Barcelonan workshops of Juan Riera, which was replaced by a chairy for the service coral and for the image of the Good Shepherd; the Chapel of the Immaculate was transformed into a chapter house, and the Chapel of Christ, in the crypt, became the new parish vestry, leaving the former sacristy for the exclusive service of the council.

In 1972, being the Bishop D. Jacinto Argaya Goicoechea and to mark the 75th anniversary of his inauguration, it undertook a second reform of the temple. Them the Gothic pulpit was removed, made by the Donostiarra artist Nicolás Medive, which was attached to one of the pillars, and the altars dedicated to the Our Lady of Sorrows, the Virgin of the Rosary and the Virgin of the Pillar. Also, roofs and windows were restored, walls and vaults were cleaned, it replaced the old floor of American oak by another of marble, was improved the interior lighting and new benches were installed.

Description

View of a facade of the Cathedral

In the project of the architect Echave, who apparently was inspired by the Cologne Cathedral, the measures of the temple consist of: an area of 1,915 square meters, a height of vessels of 25 meters, a tower of 75 meters, a central nave of 64 meters of long by 36 of width on its cruise, and a capacity of 4,000 people.

This is a church with a Latin cross, three longitudinal aisles, transept nave and pentagonal sanctuary . No have an ambulatory. The two gables of the transept housing two large rose windows that accentuate the light inside the temple. The ships to the cruise, which is wider and higher headquarters, are segmented into five sections covered with barlongas vaults of ribbed simple. The two arms of the transept consists of two arched sections as same. The cruise is the only section that features ribbed complex, incorporating tiercerons between the main veins. Since the cruise to the head, the vessels are extended with three sections. In this posterior space, the aisles become four, two on each side, to balance the width of the transept, resulting in two separate areas of equal height and divided into six sections separated by four pillars. The slender bell tower, located on the portico of the entrance, is clearly inspired by the spires of the Cologne Cathedral. The set of pilastas and buttresses terminating in pinnacles and terminating gables in buds enhance the verticality of the building.

Indoor furniture

The Major Chapel, since the reform of 1972, appears austerely manned by a choir stalls worked by the house Goicoechea y Arín, of Vitoria. On it, resting on a pedestal that hangs from the central farthing of the apse, the size of the Good Shepherd, who was in the primitive Neo-gothic altar. A work of the Barcelonan artist Joseph Llimona, also author of the figures of the Four Evangelists, from the old altar and today are on the pillars of the cruise. Under the rose windows of the transept the initial project paths doors that were finally replaced by two altarpieces, of Neo-Gothic style and golds, placed the devotions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Was installed in 1907 and 1917. Other items of interest are the altars and shrines of the Holy Family, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Saint Anthony and Francis of Assisi, works by Julio Gargallo. This artist also worked on the altars of Teresa of Ávila and Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The free length of the Our Lady of the Rosary presided over an altar abolished in 1972.

Windows of the header

Crypt

Located under the presbytery, do functions of parish sacristy since the reform of 1949-1953. Here are the tomb and objects of the first parish priest, D. Martín Lorenzo de Urizar.

Stained Glass

Were designed by Juan Bautista Lázaro and made by the houses Bolinaga y Cía., from León, and Pujol, from Barcelona. It that close the seven double windows of the apse represent the twelve apostles and the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. It also has figurative windows in the baptistry. The rest of the stained glass incorporating in double (at top) and triple (at bottom) windows , and run the most of the side walls. Two rose windows open at the ends of the transept.

Organ

The current organ, second of which have been in the Cathedral, was inaugurated in the rood screen of the temple in 1954. According to data published at the time, it was the largest organ in Spain and one of the largest in Europe. Its main console consist in five keyboards for hands, one for feet and 106 records; also, in the presbytery lies a organ of echoes with two manual keyboards, pedals and 20 records. The choir organ housed in its interior and exterior 9,535 sound tubes, the largest measures 10 meters. Its weight reaches 30 tons. The huge instrument was cost for a price of more than 1.5 million pesetas, thanks to the legacy of the Donostiarra Fermín Lasala, Duke of Mandas (1832-1917). It was built by Organería Española, of Azpeitia, and its ventilators, of several horsepower, were purchased from the house Meindinger from Basel.

Gallery

• 
  Tower
• 
  View of the tower-spire of the Cathedral
• 
  Apse
• 
  Header
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  Altarpiece of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
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  Organ

Bibliography consulted

• MURUGARREN, Luis. Catedral de El Buen Pastor. Donostia-San Sebastián, 1897-1997. Kutxa Social and Cultural Foundation, 1996. ISBN: 84-7173-288-2.

External links

• Descriptive form on Donostiasansebastian.com