Pórtico de la Gloria — Original Polychrome (Santiago de Compostela)

The Pórtico de la Gloria is widely considered the supreme masterpiece of Romanesque sculpture. Carved between 1168 and 1188 by Master Mateo and his workshop for the western entrance of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, it comprises over 200 figures arranged in three arched doorways — prophets, apostles, angels with instruments, and a central tympanum showing Christ in Majesty. Crucially, medieval visitors would have experienced an entirely different work from the bare granite visible today. The entire portico was painted in vivid colours: blue mantles, gold haloes, red drapery, flesh tones, and polychrome patterning on the archivolts. Microscopic analysis during the major 2018–2021 restoration revealed extensive paint traces, including multiple layers indicating the portico was repainted several times over the centuries. Conservators identified original 12th-century pigments including azurite (blue), vermillion (red), gold leaf, and white lead. However, centuries of pilgrim contact (a tradition of touching the Tree of Jesse column wore a handprint into the stone), candle smoke from the nearby Botafumeiro incense burner, weathering from the unenclosed narthex, and 19th-century cleaning campaigns gradually stripped the colour. The restoration team created digital reconstructions of the original polychrome, revealing a portico of almost psychedelic richness — far removed from the sombre grey stone that modern pilgrims see.