Why go
Walk the galleries for the painted lives of saints, then look toward the Chapel of Saint Blaise for a more intimate space. The change from the cathedral’s grand interior helps explain the cloister’s separate purpose. It is a useful pause between the cathedral’s public grandeur and its more private devotional rooms.
The full story
Archbishop Pedro Tenorio planned the cloister north of the cathedral on ground once occupied by a market. Construction began in 1389 and continued into the early fifteenth century. The site required a raised foundation, about five feet above the cathedral floor, to deal with its topography and the weight of the building. Four vaulted corridors form the cloister; their ground-floor frescoes depict saints including Eugenio, Casilda, and Eladio. The adjoining Chapel of Saint Blaise was intended as Tenorio’s burial place. Its vault and paintings give it a more enclosed character than the open galleries. Above the cornice, scenes of the Apostles’ Creed circle the chapel; lower down are scenes of judgment and saints’ lives. Humidity and earlier repairs damaged some of the lower paintings, so their uneven survival is part of what a visitor sees. The cloister is worth treating as a distinct part of the cathedral, shaped by its own patron, terrain, and funerary purpose.