Liturgia y configuración del espacio en la arquitectura española y portuguesa a raíz del Concilio de Trento

Abstract

The decrees of the Trento Council about the mass and worship of the Holy Sacrament encouraged the space in churches being transformed by eliminating the choir stalls in the center of the nave and approaching the altar to people. An early example of this reorganization was Granada Cathedral but the most significant was in Juan de Herrera's projects for Valladolid Cathedral and for Santa Maria de la Alhambra (Granada). The solution of a retro-choir, in the Italian manner, was more frequent in Portugal than in Spain. The tabernacles where the Holy Sacrament is exposed merited special importance: sometimes they were autonomous, replacing the traditional altarpieces, others they occupied a prominent place in the altarpiece. In both cases the altar stone and the tabernacle became the focal point of the whole space in the temple.