Initially the door was known as the
Porta de San Paio and was dedicated to
St. Pelagius, for whom the
monastery across the plaza is named.
Aymeric Picaud described the cathedral in
Book V of the Codex Calixtinus as having three main
porticoes and seven small ones: The east façade of the cathedral that overlooks the
Plaza de la Quintana has two gates: the Porta Real (royal gate) and the Porta Santa (holy gate). The
baroque construction of the Porta Real was begun under the direction of and by in 1666. It was completed in 1700 by
Domingo de Andrade, who built some of the columns that span two floors of windows, a
balustrade with large
pinnacles, and an
aedicula with an
equestrian statue of Saint James (now gone), well adorned with decorative fruit clusters and large-scale military trophies. The kings of Spain entered the cathedral through this door, hence its name and the
royal coat of arms on its
lintel. The Porta Santa or Holy Door is also known as the Door of Forgiveness (). During a
Jacobean Holy Year (years when
Saint James' Day, 25 July, falls on a Sunday), pilgrims who enter the basilica through the door earn a
plenary indulgence granted by
Pope Alexander III in his 1179 bull,
Regis aeterni. The door is usually closed with a fence and opened only during the holy year. The door may not be in its original place, nor is it the original door. Its location may have been moved as the church was rebuilt to accommodate the Chapel of the Savior. It is no longer directly accessible from the outside, as an expansion of the cathedral added a room between the
apse and the external door to the plaza. The only marker of the original exit is an eight-pointed star on the floor to indicate its location.
Niches above the exterior door to the courtyard contain sculptures of James and his disciples Athanasius and Theodore. At the sides of the door are twenty-four sculpted figures of prophets and apostles (including St. James) some of which had originally been part of the cathedral's built in the workshop of sculptor
Master Mateo. Inside this door, through a small courtyard, is the true Holy Door. The Holy Door opens into the
ambulatory of the apse, between the Chapel of the Azucena or Saint Peter () and the , where the construction of the cathedral began in 1075. There is a belief that the door was designated as the door for pilgrims because of its placement near the ambulatory. The route the ambulatory makes around the
altar, and the descent to the tomb of the
Apostle James, mark the end of the pilgrimage. The exit from the tomb represents redemption and a new life, similar to that described in Plato's
allegory of the cave. ==Gallery==