peared to a shepherd. Houses soon
grew up around the temple and, to distinguish it from Osma, the new
city was called Burgo de Osma, a name it still retains.

In 1232, not a hundred years after the erection of the cathedral, it was
totally destroyed, excepting one or two chapels still to be seen in the
cloister, by Juan Dominguez, who was bishop at the time, and who wished
to possess a see more important in appearance than that left to him by
his predecessor, St. Peter.

The building as it stands to-day is small, but highly interesting. The
original plan was that of a Romanesque basilica with a three-lobed apse,
but in 1781 the ambulatory walk behind the altar joined the two lateral
aisles.

Two of the best pieces of sculptural work in the cathedral are the
_retablo_ of the high altar, and the relief imbedded in the wall of the
_trascoro_--both of them carved in wood by Juan de Juni, one of the best
Castilian sculptors of the sixteenth century. The plastic beauty of the
figures and their lifelike postures harmonize well with the simple
Renaissance columns ornamented here and there with finely wrought
flowers and garlands.

The chapel where St. Peter of Osma's body lies is an original rather
than a beautiful annex of the church. For, given the small dimensions of
the cathedral, it was difficult to find sufficient room for the chapels,
sacristy, vestuary, etc. In the case of the above chapel, therefore, it
was necessary to build it above the vestuary; it is reached by a flight
of stairs, beneath which two three-lobed arches lead to the sombre room
below. The result is highly original.

The same remarks as regard lack of space can be made when speaking about
the principal entrance. Previously the portal had been situated in the
western front; the erection of the tower on one side, and of a chapel on
the other, had rendered this entrance insignificant and half blinded by
the prominent tower. So a new one had to be erected, considered by many
art critics to be a beautiful addition to the cathedral properly
speaking, but which strikes the author as excessively ugly, especially
the upper half, with its balcony, and a hollow arch above it, in the
shadows of which the rose window loses both its artistic and its useful
object. So, being round, it is placed within a semicircular sort of
_avant-porche_ or recess, the strong _contours_ of which deform the
immense circle of the window.

To conclude: in the cathedral of Osma, b