Santiago de Compostela’s Biblical Gate

For centuries, when pilgrims finished their long, exhausting walk to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain, where the remains of St. James the Great are said to rest, their eyes frequently lighted first on the Portico of Glory (1168-88). A wondrous triple-arched gateway carved with more than 200 figures from the Old and New Testaments, it welcomed them into the nave, just as Ferdinand II of León intended when he commissioned the design of a fine porch and portal opposite the cathedral’s main altar.