The Cathedral is known
as "Magna Hispalensis" for its beauty and its size. It has
five naves, plus two side naves for chapels, with a flat head wall
and central apse. A large part of the roofing is no more than plain
keel vaults, except for some stretches of the transept. In 1464, Lorenzo
Mercadante produced the Bautismo and Nacimiento entrances of the main
front in polychrome terracotta; they are the building's most brilliant
works of sculpture. In the high chapel, the main features are: the
iron screen, with slender proportions and abundant narrative themes,
wrought in the sixteenth century by the friar Francisco de Salamanca,
and the huge altarpiece, which was begun in 1482, according to the
design by Pedro Dancart, who carved some of the relief work, though
most of the images are by Jorge Fernandez. It includes more than a
thousand figures.
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