Andaluz (Soria)

Berlanga de Duero municipality: Andaluz
	Andaluz - San Miguel Arcángel Church
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Castile and León
Province :	Soria
Comarca :	Villa y Tierra de Fuentepinilla Berlanga
Coordinates	41 ° 31 ′ N , 2 ° 49 ′ W Coordinates: 41 ° 31 ′ N , 2 ° 49 ′ W
Height :	911 msnm
Residents :	20 (2012) INE
Postal code :	42365
Area code:	42035000300

Andaluz is a small village with only about 20 inhabitants in the Spanish province of Soria in the autonomous region of Castile and León . The place belongs to the municipality ( municipio ) Berlanga de Duero .

location

Andaluz is located about 500 meters north of the Duero at an altitude of about 910 meters above sea level. d. M. The next larger town, Berlanga de Duero , is only about 8 kilometers to the south-west. To the provincial capital Soria it is about 45 kilometers (driving distance) in a northeast direction. Also worth seeing is Calatañazor, 35 kilometers to the north, which is a listed building .

Population development

year	2000	2010
Residents	34	24

In the second half of the 19th century, Andaluz always had around 100 inhabitants. As a result of the mechanization of agriculture and the resulting lower demand for labor, the number of inhabitants has declined sharply since the middle of the 20th century.

economy

The small mountain village was and is largely characterized by agriculture (wheat, sunflowers). Tourism (hiking and holiday apartments) has played an important role as a source of income for the community since the middle of the 20th century.

history

As finds show, there was already a settlement at the current location in Celtiberian times. Andaluz (also called Fandaluz , Handaluz or Andalux in medieval documents ) was - the name suggests it - repopulated ( repoblación ) by Mozarabic settlers from southern Spain in the 10th and 11th centuries . The current Romanesque church was built in 1114, making it one of the oldest preserved churches in the province of Soria. The foral law ( fuero ) of the place dates from 1089 , one of the oldest still existing in all of Spain. At the end of the 20th century, the place was incorporated into the large community of Berlanga de Duero.

Attractions

The floor inside the portico of the Church of San Miguel Arcángel is covered with pebbles.

The single-nave church of San Miguel Arcángel with its south porch ( portico ) was completed as early as 1114, with the exception of the mighty tower and a higher and larger apse from the 16th century. While the church - with the exception of the corner stones - is built from rubble stones , the vestibule consists of precisely hewn house stones . The portal of the portico is precisely aligned with that of the church building; the pillars of the vestibule partly consist of four smaller pillars. The capitals mostly show abstract or vegetable décor; the one on the west side shows a human figure with a loincloth and depictions of animals (donkeys, horses). The Romanesque portal with its coffered door from the 16th century emerges clearly from the masonry of the church. Its robes are staggered in depth several times; the archivolts show geometric ornaments in the form of block friezes . In the spandrels to the left and right of the portal arch there are two 'primitive' representations of a griffin and a lion ; underneath the lion there is an inscription that is not easy to read. a. includes the founding date of the church (1112 or 1114). While the nave shows ridge vaults with stitch caps , the apse is ribbed ; its straight back wall is occupied by an oversized-looking altarpiece . The furnishings include two further altars and a Romanesque baptismal font with arcades . A small museum in the north-west corner of the church presents six other capitals (including one with a centaur ) and several console stones . Several stones with decorative remains ( spoilage ) are embedded in the outer wall of the church .

capital
capital
Relief plate griffin
Relief plate lion

Medieval bridge over the Duero

Only a few sparse remains of the wall still bear witness to the existence of a castle ( castillo ) on a rock above the village.
About 500 meters south of the village, a stone bridge ( puente romano ) crosses the Río Duero , which according to local tradition dates from Roman times, and was repeatedly repaired in the Middle Ages and later . The wide arches are slightly pointed at their apex, which indicates a likely construction period in the 13th, 14th or 15th century.

Web links

Commons : Andaluz - Collection of images, videos and audio files