CHURRIGUERA, Alberto

Spanish architect, designer, and woodcarver, part of a family of architects and sculptors. He was the son of José Simón de Churriguera (active c. 1662, d. 1679), sibling of Joaquín de Churriguera (1674-1724) and José Benito de Churriguera.

Alberto, the youngest of the Churrigueras, was overshadowed by his brothers for a long time. It was only after their death that he was free to develop his own style which was already influenced by RococoGLOSSARYA style of design, painting, and architecture dominating the 18th century, often considered the last stage of the Baroque. Developing in the Paris townhouses of the French aristocracy at the turn of the 18th century, Rococo was elegant and ornately decorative, its mood lighthearted and witty. Louis XV furniture, richly decorated with organic forms, is a typical product. Leading exponents of the Rococo sryle included the French painters Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) and Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806), and the German architect Johann Balthasar Neumann (1687-1753). Rococo gave way to Neo-classicism.. His main work was the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca, which he designed in 1728. He received countless other commissions for churches and colleges in Salamanca, but left in 1738 after a dispute about the construction of the tower for the city's new cathedralGLOSSARYThe principal church of a province or diocese, where the throne of the bishop is placed. For reasons lost to time and tradition, a cathedral always faces west - toward the setting sun. The altar is placed at the east end. The main body, or nave, of the cathedral is usually divided into one main and two side aisles. These lead up to the north and south transepts, or arms of the cross, the shape in which a cathedral is usually formed..

His worthy successor in Salamanca was Andrés García de Quiñones.