that today it is a mix of Romanesque, Gothic, Moorish, manueline and baroque styles. Particularly important were the addition of new chapels and the entrance gallery in gothic style, the new manueline main chapel, and the various additions in baroque times like the towers, chapels and much inner decoration. The cathedral as the most important religious site in Iberia (before the founding of Santiago of Compostela and the reconquest of Toledo from Muslim hands) was an extremely powerful institution at the time and enjoyed a great degree of influence in the papal court. For example, the Archbishop Primaz D. Paio Mendes (1118-1137), considered by some historians to be the true teacher of D. Afonso Henriques, the first King of Portugal, instead of Egas Moniz, was an ardent defender of the cause of the Infante against his mother, D. Teresa of Léon. Counselor to the monarch, he traveled with him to Zamora. It had an influential role in the formation of the independence of Portugal, having used its position in the papal court of Pope Alexander III finally obtaining the approval of the Papal Bull Manifestis Probatum that recognized the independence of Portugal by the Papacy and consequently by all of Christendom. This Archbishop also ordered, in 1128, the construction of a building with 5 chapels in the transept of the Cathedral which was damaged by an earthquake. Art and architecture Exterior The original romanesque Western façade of the Cathedral of Braga has been totally suppressed, except for some archivolts and capitals of the main portal, heavily decorated with animal and human sculptured reliefs. The figures of one archivolt, with hens, foxes and a minstrel, may be telling a moralistic song like the Roman de Renart, of French tradition. Between 1486 and 1501, an entrance gallery (a galilee) in late gothic style was built preceding the main portal. The galilee has ribbed vaulting and is decorated with statues and gargoyles, the gargoyles were used for spouts so rain wouldn't ruin the side of the buildings. The beautiful manueline metal gate was originally in the interior of the cathedral, but was moved to the galilee in the 18th century. In the early 16th century, Archbishop Diogo de Sousa modified the main romanesque portal, sacrificing the inner archivolts. The upper part of the façade and towers were totally modernised in the 18th century and are unremarkable. The Southern façade of the cathedral has