Cathedral of La Seu d'Urgell

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Santa María Cathedral and Cloister
Cathedral district floor plan
Cloister

The Cathedral of Santa María in La Seu d'Urgell , a city in the province of Lleida in the autonomous Spanish region of Catalonia , is the episcopal church of the Diocese of Urgell . It was built in the 12th century on the site of three previous buildings in the Romanesque style. The church of Sant Miquel, which belongs to the cathedral district, dates back to the early 11th century. The cloister probably dates from the 13th century. In 1931, the buildings in the cathedral district were declared a monument ( Bien de Interés Cultural ).

history

La Seu d'Urgell is proven to be the seat of the Urgell diocese as early as the 6th century. The Latin name of the place Sedes Urgelli was derived from this function . Several bishops are recorded until 693. Just, who attended the Second Council of Toledo , worked from 527 to 546 . Even during the Moorish invasion of the Iberian Peninsula , the diocese remained in existence. After the failed conquest of Narbonne , the unsuccessful Moorish campaign returned through the Segre valley and devastated the episcopal city, which originally lay on a hill above the Valira river , now known as Castellciutat. The cathedral built in Visigothic times also fell victim to the destruction . After the withdrawal of the Arabs, the Frankish Emperor Ludwig the Pious ordered the reconstruction of the town and the cathedral, but on the banks of the Segre, two kilometers from the old town. La Seu d'Urgell then belonged to the Spanish Mark , the border region of the Franconian Empire south of the Pyrenees, which Charlemagne had created to secure the borders of his empire against the Moors.

In 839 the first cathedral of the new town center, the vicus Urgelli , was inaugurated by Bishop Sisebut II. The inauguration certificate of this cathedral has been preserved undamaged and is kept in the diocesan archive. In this document, almost three hundred places, parishes and churches are listed that belonged to the diocese at that time. In the 11th century, three churches belonged to the bishopric. In addition to the cathedral, which is dedicated to Mary , there were the churches of Sant Pere and Sant Miquel, dedicated to the Apostle Peter and the Archangel Michael , which probably corresponded to the Visigoth tradition. Under Bishop Ermengol, a new, larger cathedral was built at the beginning of the 11th century. It was consecrated in 1040 by Bishop Eribau, Ermengol's successor. Your certificate of initiation is also kept in the diocesan archive. Fifty years later the church was in danger of falling into disrepair. Bishop Ot, who headed the diocese from 1095 to 1122 and who was later venerated as the patron saint of La Seu d'Urgell, initiated the reconstruction of the cathedral and gave indulgences to the faithful for their donations. The construction work spanned almost the entire 12th century. In 1175 the builder Ramón Lambard was hired to build the dome. Construction work had to be stopped in 1195 when the Vice Counts of Castelbon and the Counts of Foix invaded the Urgell diocese and sacked the episcopal town during the Albigensian Wars. The cathedral was expanded into a fortress, in which the townspeople found refuge several times. In the 13th century, the cloister was added to the south side of the church.

In the 18th century the church was plastered and the bell tower above the west facade was walled into a clock tower. It was not until the 1950s that the outer walls and the tower were exposed again.

architecture

Exterior construction

Main apse with gallery

The east side of the cathedral is dominated by the large main apse . The smaller apses do not protrude from the outer wall of the transept. The main apse is structured by half- columns and broken up by three large archivolt windows. The upper end is a gallery with fifteen arches resting on double columns and corbels . The capitals of the columns are decorated with foliage and figures, the corbels are designed as human heads. A cornice with numerous, artistically designed corbels also runs under the roof .

West facade

In the middle of the west facade, three large arched windows open up. Heads are attached at the level of the window zone. The gable is provided with blind arches that rest on consoles decorated with grimaces and human heads. It is broken through by two oculi and a large arched window. At the end of the gable there are sawtooth, zigzag, dew-ribbon and chessboard friezes .

Towers

Two fortress-like, square towers are attached to the north and south transepts. Both towers are decorated with Lombard arches and pilaster strips . The crossing dome is crowned on the south side by a bell gable. Another two-story bell tower rises above the west facade, which is broken through on all four sides by twin arcades on its lower storey and a triple arcade on its upper storey. Sawtooth friezes run over the arches and rest on consoles that are partly sculpted with heads.

  • Transept tower

  • Bell gable over the crossing dome

  • Bell tower over the west facade

Portals

Decor on the south portal

The cathedral has five portals, three on the west facade and one portal each on the north and south sides.

The south portal opens to the cloister. It is the most richly decorated of all five portals and is framed by archivolts and on both sides by round bars and two columns each with capitals. Between these and the archivolts numerous small heads and balls or egg-shaped ornaments are hidden, which are interpreted as a symbol of the resurrection of Christ.

The north portal is surrounded by simple archivolts and slender columns decorated with capitals. There are blind arches above the portal, which are divided into three acades of three by two half-columns. The arcades are delimited by sawtooth friezes at the top and bottom. The central arches rest on carved corbels.

Four large reliefs frame the central portal of the west facade. The two lower ones are badly weathered, they probably represented lions like the upper reliefs. There you can see naked human figures on and under the lions. Above the portal there is a frieze depicting animals, people and monsters. The fighters of the outer portal arch and the capitals of the columns are carved with depictions of animals.

  • South portal

  • North portal

  • West portal

Longhouse

inner space

The church is a basilica built on the plan of a Latin cross . The nave has three aisles and is divided into four bays . A rectangular choir with a semicircular apse adjoins the transept , which in turn opens to a small apse niche. The apse wall is structured by high blind arcades that rest on slender columns decorated with carved capitals . The transept arms open in the east to small apses, above which a gallery with twin arcades runs on double columns.

The central nave is 38 meters long, eight meters wide and 21 meters high, the side aisles are five meters wide and 13 meters high. The central aisle arcades rest on eight cruciform pillars , in the corners of which quarter columns are set. The central nave and the transept arms are covered by barrel vaults, the side aisles have groined vaults . The crossing is vaulted by a dome.

Gothic rosette

rosette

The east wall of the choir is broken through by an eight-part rose window. It is the oldest glass window in the church and dates from the Gothic period . In the center there are geometrical motifs and people in the eight outer fields, above in the middle Christ with the crown of thorns, below on the left Mary and on the right the Apostle John . The apostle Peter can be recognized by his keys, the apostle Paul by his sword. The two bishops are interpreted as Just and Ermengol or Ot. In the lower center there is a Madonna and Child.

Romanesque Madonna Santa María by Urgell

Furnishing

  • In the central niche of the main apse, a colorful Romanesque Madonna figure is enthroned on a column and is venerated as the patron saint of the city.
  • The reclining figure of Bishop Ermengol was made in the 17th century. The gilded relief panels tell scenes from his life.
Sant Miquel

Sant Miquel Church

At the southeast corner of the cloister is the former St. Peter's Church, now consecrated to the Archangel Michael. The church, which already existed in the 11th century and is a hundred years older than the cathedral, was rebuilt around 1030 under the bishop Ermengol. The single-nave church with its simple square bell tower over the crossing and the three apses, which are decorated with blind arches and pilaster strips, corresponds to the Lombard architectural style . An altar is kept in the church, which is considered the sacrificial altar of the first cathedral. The original paintings of the apse are housed in the Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña in Barcelona .

Cloister

The floor plan of the cloister is almost square. The arcades rest on simple columns and pillars at the corners. The columns are decorated with large capitals made of gray granite. They are provided with representations of plants, animals and human figures. There are no biblical motives.

  • Capital of the cloister

  • Capital of the cloister

  • Capital of the cloister

  • Capital of the cloister

literature

Web links

Commons : Cathedral of La Seu d'Urgell  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 42 ° 21 '28.3 "  N , 1 ° 27' 42.9"  E