Monastery of San Jeronimo (St. Jerome), Vaulting of the Crossing and the Capilla Mayor (Major...

TILT down, interior, Renaissance-style rib vaulted and coffered ceiling. The Monastery of San Jeronimo was the first monastery that was built following the Christian Reconquest of Spain. Francisco and Jacobo El Indaco, two Italian masters, took part in its initial construction in 1525. The master architect Diego de Siloe took over in 1528. The church has a rich Renaissance interior decoration. It was conceived as a pantheon to Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba, El Gran Capitan, a famous Spanish military personality. Diego de Siloe had to undertake the vaulting of the choir and the crossing of the church. In the dome above the transept his design included four tapered arches stretching from four conchoidal pendentives to support a star-ribbed vault. The vault features a full iconographic program with representations of Christ, the Apostles, saints and angels on the chancel. The Main Chapel has a retable that is 5 levels high and almost reaches the ceiling. The predominant color of the retable is gold, and it is decorated with many sculptures and reliefs. The ceiling is a barrel vault, elaborately decorated.