Choir

We had an extensive tour of the Cathedral this morning in Santiago de Calzada.  Our tour guide was great.  This picture in the Choir of the old church.  The guide explained that only 6% of Spanish citizens attend church these days, and that 80% of them are retired, and that 80% of them are women.
The nearby Cistercian Monastery has 28 cloistered nuns and that almost all of them are from Africa and Asia.  This is also where most of America's priests are being recruited from.  One gets the feeling the church is in an unrecoverable nosedive.  But they are leaving behind some great structures.

The Choir area was constructed in the 1500's and was made of Walnut polished with Beeswax.  They have never been refinished and still look brand-new.