in Spain. Its cathedral, as well as the Pre-Roman, Roman,
Gothic, and middle age remains,--most of them covered over with heaps of
dust and earth,--are well worth a visit, being highly interesting both
to artists and to archaeological students.

In short, Tuy on her hill beside the Mino, glaring across an iron bridge
at Portugal, is a city rich in traditions and legends of faded hopes and
past glories. Unluckily for her, cities of less historical fame are
better known and more admired.

As has already been mentioned, the cathedral crowns the hill, upon the
slopes of which the city descends to the river; moreover, the edifice
occupies the summit only,--a _castro_, as explained in a previous
chapter. Therefore, for proofs are lacking both ways, it is probable
that the present building was erected on the same spot where the many
basilicas which we know existed and were destroyed in one or another of
the many sieges, stood in bygone days.

The present cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary, like that in Orense,
was most likely begun in the first half of the twelfth century;
successive earthquakes suffered by the city, especially that felt in
Lisbon in 1755, obliged the edifice to be repaired more than once, which
accounts for many of the base additions which spoil the ensemble.

From the general disposition of the building, which is similar in many
details to the cathedral at Lugo, it has been thought probable that
Maestro Raimundo (father?) was the builder of the church; definite
proofs are, however, lacking.

The ground-plan is rectangular, with a square apse; the interior is
Roman cruciform, consisting of a nave and two aisles; the transept, like
that of Santiago, is also composed of a nave and two aisles; the four
arms of the cross are all of them very short, and almost all are of the
same length. Were it not for the height of the nave, crowned by a
Romanesque triforium of blinded arches, the interior would be decidedly
ugly. However, the height attained gives a noble aspect to the whole,
and what is more, renders the ensemble curious rather than beautiful.

The large and ungainly choir spoils the general view of the nave,
whereas the continuation of the aisles, broad and light to the very
apse, where, facing each aisle, there is a handsome rose window which
throws a flood of coloured light into the building, cannot be too highly
praised.

The walls are devoid of all decoration, and if it were not for the
chapel