portal and good walnut retablo. On the left side of the cathedral is the shabby little chapel of San Juan Bautista, with paintings in the retablo by Cristobal Garcia Salmeron, who, born in 1603, became pupil of Orrente, and adopted Bassano’s style, especially in his Nativity, the Baptist preaching, and in our Saviour mocked, above it. Obs. the reja in the chapel of the Muñoz family. The Capilla de los Caballeros (L), so called from the tombs of the Albornoz family, although it somewhat encumbers the body of the cathedral, is very remarkable; the door is such as becomes the entrance of a chamber of death, being ornamented with a celebrated stone skeleton; read the inscription, Sacellum militum, &c. The reja is excellent, so likewise are the two windows at the E. end, which are richly painted and decorated with armorial blazons. The pictures in the retablo, of the date 1526, were given by the Prothonotary Gomez Carrillo de Albornoz, who had lived long in Italy; they are painted in panel by Hernando Yañez, an able artist, whose works are very rare in Spain; he is said to have been a pupil of Raphael, but his style is more Florentine than Roman. The chapel, however, is dark, and the pictures blackened by smoke; obs. the Crucifixion; the Adoration of Kings—the Mother and Child are quite Raphaelesque. Among the many grand sepulchres notice that of the great Cardinal Gil Carrillo Albornoz, and friend of the gallant Alonso XI., whose Life has been written by Baltazar Parreño, ‘Historia de los Hechos,’ &c., 8vo., Tol., 1566, and also by Juan Gines de Sepulveda, 4to., Bolonia, 1612. Observe also the tomb of his mother, Teresa de Luna, and the fine military figure to the 1. of the high altar. There are other works by Xamete in the chapels of San Fabian, San Sebastian, San Mateo, and San Lorenzo.
§ 5. Bishop’s Palace; Old Houses.
Near the cathedral in the Bishop’s Palace, with a portal of mixed Gothic, and a fine saloon inside called from the tutelar de San Julian, which, with the rest of the house, the invaders pillaged completely. Many of the oldest parish churches are built on the walls, and thereby add to their irregular and picturesque effect. The interiors have for the most part been sadly modernised by the once rich clergy, who tortured their fine woods into Churrigueresque and gilt gingerbread. The tombs of the Montemayors are now in the old parish church of Santa Maria; one is dated 1462, another in the plateresque taste of 1523 is enriched with the recumbent figure of Don Juan in sacerdotal costume. In the church of San Juan Bautista, now pulled down, was the tomb of Pedro Inca, the last descendant of the Peruvian kings who died at Cuenca.
The curious old Casas Solares, or family mansions of the Conquistadores, are now desolate, and their armorials remain over the portals like hatchments of the dead: the interiors were gutted by the French. Many of these houses are picturesquely built over the declivities, such as the Alcazar of the Mendozas, which towers over the Jucar: obs. the houses of the Priego and Carrillo families, and some others in the Calle de Correduria. The now unused mint was built in 1664 by José de Arroyo. The Franciscan convent was erected in the 12th centy. by the Templars. The position of the Carmelitas Descalzas hanging over rock and river is fine, so also is that of San Pedro de Alcantara, which is placed near the Jucar outside the town. Cuenca was once remarkable for its colleges, printing-presses, manufactories, arts, sciences, and industry, all of which was so utterly swept away by the invaders as to make the historian Toreno (xx.) wonder how a nation go civilised and humane could select for destruction the works of Spanish piety and learning.
There is a good Instituto Provincial, established in a modern building near the bridge of Trinidad. The excellent laboratories were destroyed by the Carlists in July 1874. This unfortunate town suffered to a great
