The Tympana of Christ and the Evangelists at León and Burgos Cathedrals




13th century
Upper photo: León, south portal
Lower photo: Burgos, Sarmental doorway

The compositions are very similar. In both, Christ regnant is flanked by the winged creatures that symbolize the evangelists. In León the evangelists themselves are at writing desks on the left and right in the middle register; in Burgos two of them are placed above the Christ figure.

The twelve apostles, shown here in the Burgos tympanum, are arrayed the same way (though not shown in the photograph) in León.

Read more about Christ in Majesty and about the Evangelists.

Photographed at the cathedrals by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.