The cathedral of Toledo was modeled after the Bourges Cathedral though it also combines some characteristics of the Mudéjar style, is remarkable for its incorporation of light and no part is more remarkable than the Baroque altar called El Transparente, several stories high, with fantastic figures of stucco, painting, bronze castings, and multiple colors of marble, a masterpiece of medieval mixed media by Narciso Tomei topped by the daily effect for just a few minutes of a shaft of sunlight striking it through a similarly ornamented hole in the roof, giving the impression that the whole altar is rising to heaven. It is from the play of light that this feature of the cathedral derives its name.
Last updated: 08-27-2005 02:20:36