Rambles in sunny Spain . t the arches, — and wranderthrough the beautiful cloisters, with their pointed arches, adornedwith elaborate art. A museum is now shown in one of the clois-ters, made up of fragments of statuary, Arabic carvings, and oldpaintings. The most fascinating things about this old convent were on theoutside, in the shape of the chains of captive Christians, hung highup on the walls. There are hundreds of them, — heavy iron fettershung in pairs, votive offerings of the Christians who were deliveredfrom the Moors at the conquest of Granada. Through four centuriesof change these
Rambles in sunny Spain . t the arches, — and wranderthrough the beautiful cloisters, with their pointed arches, adornedwith elaborate art. A museum is now shown in one of the clois-ters, made up of fragments of statuary, Arabic carvings, and oldpaintings. The most fascinating things about this old convent were on theoutside, in the shape of the chains of captive Christians, hung highup on the walls. There are hundreds of them, — heavy iron fettershung in pairs, votive offerings of the Christians who were deliveredfrom the Moors at the conquest of Granada. Through four centuriesof change these chains have hung listless against the walls of SanJuan, and their wearers, who came forth so gladly to welcome Fer-dinand and Isabella with songs of praise for their deliverance, havenow been dust for near four hundred years. This was a Christian convent; but up the hill a bit is a memorialof the Jews, who were formerly so numerous in Toledo. Santa Mariala Blanca is a Jewish synagogue dating from the twelfth century,. INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL, TOLEDO. TOLEDO, ON THE GOLDEN TAGUS. 131 empty now and without any worshippers, but as beautiful as anytemple of its size in Toledo. It has the Moorish arches, with polygo-nal pillars, and a ceiling with beams from the cedars of earth beneath the pavement is said to have come from MountZion ; but it is now nearly five hundred years since it was troddenby the foot of a child of Israel. The Moorish style of architecture prevails, even in these Jewishstructures, and also in those called Gothic and Christian; but it mayalso be seen in its purity in several buildings. As we were climbingone of the narrow streets our guide stopped and knocked at a dilapi-dated gate. It was opened by a poor woman, who led the way, with-out a word, to a building used as a carpenters shop, where the wallswere covered with that intricate stucco-work so richly and the smoke of the forge had stained great portions of it,and much had f
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Keywords: ., bookauthoroberfred, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookyear1889
