They were designed with a single model, with the front corresponding to the part reserved for the altar or altarpiece, opening in the other walls arcosolios originally intended for burials. They are covered with different star-shaped vaults. The grilles that close them are of different styles and qualities, depending on the moment of their construction. The
azulejos fronts that decorate some altars also stand out. The chapels are the following:
Chapel of San Clemente The altarpiece presents paintings of the
Virgin del Socorro and
Saint Clement. From this chapel there is access to the exterior terrace above the main doorway.
Chapel of Diego de Neyla It is not a closed chapel as such, since it is located in the section occupied externally by the Puerta de Ramos. It highlights the tomb of Canon Diego de Neyla, who died in 1577, a Renaissance work that incorporates a panel with the Virgin, the Child and San Juanito, surrounded by angels and God the Father. Above the Gothic
arcosolium there is a beautiful Renaissance fresco with the Annunciation. To the right, the tomb of
Archdeacon Roque de Vergas.
Chapel of Santiago and Santa Teresa or de Almansa The altarpiece is dedicated to the two co-patrons of Spain, work of
Antonio González Ramiro in 1628 with sculptures by
Antonio de Paz. The chapel also contains the tombs of two of the most influential bishops of the city in recent times:
Tomás de Cámara y Castro, who died in 1904, and
Francisco Frutos Valiente, who died in 1933.
Chapel of Nuestra. Señora de la Verdad Founded by Bishop
Antonio Corrionero, the tombs by
Antonio de Paz stand out. It takes its name from a dispute between a Christian and a Jew in which he witnessed the image of the Virgin, from the 12th century re-carved and polychrome in the Baroque, with a slight head movement.
Chapel of San Antonio It presents altarpiece and titular image work of local artists in the 18th century, with a canvas of the Magdalena copy of the original of
Alessandro Allori, located in the attic. It emphasizes a canvas of the martyrdom of the Baptist signed in 1621 by
Santiago Jerónimo Espinosa.
Altar of the Christ of the Redeeming Agony It is located in the north arm of the transept. The image is one of the most spectacular and beautiful of all the New Cathedral. It is an anonymous work of the 15th century, it is a Crucified Christ with three nails. Its polychromy reveals a great realism in the treatment of the body and the details of the veins that can be seen in it. He is dead, with his eyes open and his mouth ajar. It has natural hair, which adds verism to the figure. It parades in the
Holy Week in Salamanca with the
Real Cofradía Penitencial del Santísimo Cristo Yacente de la Misericordia y de la Agonía Redentora on Holy Thursday at midnight. At the foot of the Cross there are bones and a skull that, according to tradition, represents
Adam. In front of this altar is buried
Francisco de Bobadilla, the bishop who laid the first stone of the cathedral.
Chapel of the Virgin of la Cabeza It highlights a seated Gothic Virgin with the Child in her arms. It also guards the group of "la Borriquilla", which parades on Palm Sunday with the
Hermandad de Jesús Amigo de los Niños.
Chapel of the Virgin of Lourdes or San Tirso (10) It contains images of Fathers of the Church coming from the old tabernacle of the main altar and an image of the titular of the chapel.
Chapel of the Virgin of the Pilar It houses an 18th-century painting representing the Coming of the Virgin to Zaragoza and a Gothic sculpture of the Virgin of Pilar.
Chapel of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad . A baroque altarpiece, work of
Joaquín de Churriguera, houses the carving of
Our Lady of Solitude. It is an image of dress, due to
Mariano Benlliure (1941), titular of the
Hermandad de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad and that processes through the streets during the
Holy Week in Salamanca.
Chapel of the Christ of the Battles This chapel houses the Romanesque image of the
Christ of the Battles, of flesh color and with four nails, which must be dated in the first half of the 12th century. According to tradition, the image was carried by
Bishop Jerome of Périgord, the first bishop of Salamanca after the repopulation of the city, when he accompanied
El Cid in his battles against the Muslims. The altarpiece that houses the Christ is a work of the first half of the 18th century made by
Alberto de Churriguera and donated by the bishop
José Sancho Granado in 1734. Also found in the chapel are an urn with the remains of Bishop Jerome and an image of the Virgin of Carmel by
Antonio de Paz.
Chapel of San José Christ of the Battles, made in the 12th century. It presents a Baroque altarpiece of rocaille reminiscent of the Portuguese style, with a fine image of St. Joseph with Child and paintings of St. John, the Magdalene and Santiago Matamoros.
Chapel of los Dolores or del Santísimo It is located under the start of one of the towers designed for the chancel, accessed from the ambulatory through the Chapel of San José. The altarpiece, of Neoclassical style and designed by
Juan de Sagarvinaga, is crowned by an image of God the Father and angels that could be from Carmona. In the niche receives worship an image of the Pietà of
Luis Salvador Carmona of 1760, image of the end of the Baroque. Its polychrome and the serenity of the Virgin's face announce the arrival of Neoclassicism, while the anatomy of the naked Christ is heir to the Baroque. It parades in
Holy Week in Salamanca with the
Hermandad Dominicana del Santísimo Cristo de la Buena Muerte.
Chapel of San Nicolás de Bari It presents two altarpieces: a Baroque one dedicated to
St. Nicholas of Bari, crowned by a painting of the Virgin with the sleeping Child, and another neoclassical one with a carving of the Immaculate Conception, attributed to
Alejandro Carnicero.
Chapel del Jesús Nazareno It shows several Italian paintings. In the altarpiece stands out the canvas of Christ and the Veronica, work of
Carlo Maratta, and the oval painting of the penitent Magdalene, by
Romanelli. In the arcosolios of the back there are two Neapolitan paintings with the Slaughter of the Innocents and the Expulsion of the merchants from the Temple attributed to
Micco Spadaro.
Chapel of la Virgen del Desagravio It preserves the first altarpiece in which Solomonic columns were used in Spain. It was assembled in 1664 as an act of atonement to house a canvas of the Immaculate Conception that had been outraged that same year when the face of the Virgin was slashed with a dagger by an opponent to the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary.
Chapel of la Virgen de Morales or de San Bartolomé Formerly this chapel was the one that communicated the two Cathedrals. In the attic of the altarpiece there is a painting of the Virgin with the Child and San Juanito by
Luis de Morales, apparently from the church of
San Felices de los Gallegos. To the same author is attributed a painting of the Ecce Homo that is in the chapel. Initially the altarpiece was dedicated to St. John the Baptist, later his image was replaced by another of St. Bartholomew. The images of Saint Gregory of Ostia and St. Augustine are the work of
Antonio de Paz. Also kept in this chapel is the image of the Recumbent Christ of Mercy, work of
Enrique Orejudo in 1991, which parades in
Holy Week with the
Real Cofradía Penitencial del Santísimo Cristo Yacente de la Misericordia y de la Agonía Redentora.
Chapel of the President It has this name because it was endowed in 1577 by Don
Francisco Fernández de Liébana, President of the
Royal Chancery of Valladolid. In the altarpiece stand out a copy of the Burial of Christ by
Titian, whose original is in the
Museo del Prado, and the Apparition of Christ Resurrected to his Mother, both seeming to be the work of
Fernández Navarrete, the Mute. Also found in the chapel are the Virgin of Bethlehem, attributed to "
La Roldana", and a bust of Ecce Homo by
Pedro Hernández of the 17th century, from the disappeared Church of San Adrián of Salamanca.
The Golden Chapel or of All Saints It was ordered to be built in 1515 by the archdeacon of
Alba de Tormes, Francisco Sánchez de Palenzuela. Its architecture corresponds to
Juan de Álava. It has several arcades that house different tombs, among them those of the founder of the chapel. All the walls are decorated with about 110 statues whose golden color stands out, hence the name of the chapel. There are sculptures of characters from the Old and New Testament, including apostles, saints, sibyls, prophets, etc.. The sculptures are supported by different polychrome and gilded shelves. Quite curious are the images of Adam and Eve, which coincide with the images of Apollo and Venus that appear on the façade of the
University of Salamanca. The image of death appears in a gloomy form tucked in a niche and with a toad between her legs. The toad, representation of the sin of lust, also appeared decorating the facade of the Salamanca University. A magnificent Calvary presides over the altarpiece of the chapel, placed on a pictorial background by
Adiosdado de Olivares. Under it, there is an altar decorated with
Talavera de la Reina azulejos.
Chapel of San Lorenzo It was founded by Lorenzo Sánchez de Acebes and has an altarpiece with a relief of the saint's martyrdom, attributed to
Antonio de Paz. From this chapel you can access to the
Old Cathedral of Salamanca. ==Architectural style==