Mozarabic architecture

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San Miguel de Escalada , portico with horseshoe arches (around 913)
San Miguel de Escalada, arcades with horseshoe arches in the interior

The Mozarabic architecture describes the architectural style of pre-Romanesque buildings that were built by Mozarabs . Mozarabs were Christians who were shaped by the culture of Islam . Mozarabic architecture emerged both in Moorish Spain and outside of it, particularly in the recaptured areas that were repopulated with Christians from al-Andalus . In Spanish, Mozarabic art is also known as Arte de Repoblación , the art of the repopulation period . The Mozarabic structures built in the emirate and later Caliphate of Cordoba are largely destroyed.

etymology

The term Mozarab was not used until the early 12th century. The word is documented for the first time in writing - in different spellings such as muztarabes or muzarabes - in the fueros , the special rights that the Christian kings granted to those who remained Christian after the reconquest of Toledo in 1085. The current Spanish spelling Mozárabes is found for the first time in a document that Alfons I el Batallador (1104–1134), King of Aragon and Navarre , addressed to the Christians in al-Andalus. The term is derived from the Arabic word musta'rab , which means “wanting to be Arabic” and describes those who have Arabicized themselves. It refers to the Christian inhabitants of al-Andalus who had appropriated the culture of the Moors but kept their Christian faith. The Christians who convert to Islam and their descendants are known as muladíes .

Historical background

Al-Andalus around 910

Al-Andalus

After the Moorish conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in 711 and the collapse of the Visigoth Empire , the coexistence of Christians, who initially made up the majority of the inhabitants, was regulated by treaties with the Islamic rulers. These assured their wards personal freedom and the receipt of their material goods. They were able to preserve their places of worship and practice their religion if they did not offend Islam or try to convert Muslims to Christianity. Like the Jews, they were subject to their own jurisdiction and were excluded from the most important public offices. They were subject to higher taxes than the Muslims and they had to pay the jizya , a poll tax for non-Muslims, which was lifted when they converted to Islam.

The proportion of the Christian population remained high, especially in the vicinity of the episcopal cities of Toledo, Córdoba , Seville and Mérida . In the 11th century there were still villages with almost exclusively Christian inhabitants. However, hardly any traces of their buildings have survived, with the exception of the Church of Santa María de Melque , which probably dates from the Visigothic period.

The emigration of Christian residents from al-Andalus to the north took place in waves. As early as the middle of the 8th century, under the Umayyad Abd ar-Rahman I (756–788), the pressure on Christians to accept the Islamic faith was growing. Mixed marriages were encouraged and the children of Muslim fathers had to be brought up in the Islamic faith. Churches have been destroyed or confiscated . In the cities of Mérida, Toledo and Zaragoza , there were revolts of the Christian population. In 818 a rebellion was put down in Cordoba. At the beginning of the 9th century, Christians were executed in al-Andalus. Around 850/859, a group of believers formed around Eulogius of Córdoba and Paulus Alvarus , who consciously sought martyrdom and opposed any adaptation to Moorish customs. As the martyrs of Cordoba, they became a symbol of Christian resistance and served as justification for the military conquests of the Reconquista . Their veneration spread quickly and as early as 858 monks from the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés brought relics of the martyrs of Cordoba to Paris . Other Christians sought refuge outside of the Moorish domain.

Christian Spain

yellow: Kingdom of León, orange: Kingdom of Navarre (Pamplona) with the county of Castile, pink: county of Barcelona, ​​green: al-Andalus; around 1030

Christian Spain existed in 10/11. Century from the Kingdom of León (910-1027), in which under Ramiro II. (931-951) the Asturian Kingdom was incorporated, the Kingdom of Navarre (905-1035), the County of Castile (930-1022) and the County of Barcelona ( 898-1018).

Under the Asturian King Alfons III. (866–910), who had moved his capital from Oviedo to León , areas along the Río Duero were repopulated. In this no man's land, which was supposed to serve as a buffer zone to the Islamic areas, the population had previously been displaced. As early as 893, Christians from Toledo were resettled in the cities of Simancas , Toro and Zamora . At the beginning of the 10th century, Christians from Cordoba settled in the León area. Among them were many monks who settled in the abandoned Visigothic monasteries or built new monasteries like San Miguel de Escalada , in which they introduced Moorish style elements.

Style features

San Miguel de Celanova, regularly hewn cuboids, tooth frieze under the roof of the apse

Exterior construction

Mostly precisely hewn cuboids were used as building material , which served as corner stones in the rarer quarry stone walls grouted with mortar . To reduce the weight, layers of bricks were also built , which were decorated with friezes . Similar to the oldest part of the Mezquita of Córdoba , a toothed frieze made of bricks placed across the corner was added to the outer facade of San Miguel de Escalada above the clasp windows of the nave and under the roof of the apse . The tooth frieze was cut in stone on the facades of Santiago de Peñalba and San Miguel de Celanova .

Layout

The churches have one or three aisles and have a rectangular or square plan in which a Latin or Greek cross is inscribed. The entrance is usually on the south side. A mostly three-part choir head connects to the nave in the east . The apses have a horseshoe-shaped floor plan, the outer walls form a rectangle. Some of them are very small and narrow and are reminiscent of the prayer niches ( mihrab ) of a mosque . San Cebrián de Mazote or Santiago de Peñalba have an opposite or western apse , which is also found in Ottonian architecture (e.g. in Sankt Cyriakus in Gernrode ).

Roof eaves and roller consoles

Santa María de Lebeña , scroll brackets and frieze

The roofs have protruding eaves that rest on so-called roller consoles that are decorated with rosettes and sun wheels . Examples of such roller consoles can be found on the Mezquita in Cordoba. They are still present at the churches of San Miguel de Celanova, San Miguel de Escalada, San Millán de Suso , Santa María de Lebeña and Santiago de Peñalba.

San Baudelio de Berlanga

Cover

Santiago de Peñalba , eight-part dome with remains of the painting

The naves mostly have flat wooden ceilings, smaller parts of the room are covered with groin vaults or rib vaults. The apses have barrel vaults made of stone or domes . Compared to the buildings of the Visigothic period or the pre-Romanesque buildings of Asturias, the umbrella domes of San Cebrián de Mazote, San Miguel de Celanova or Santiago de Peñalba are an innovation. San Baudelio de Berlanga is a specialty . There the vault of the main room is supported by a central column with eight horseshoe-shaped ribs , which give the image of a date palm . As a Christian symbol of martyrs, the palm was of particular importance to Mozarabic Christians and was also depicted in Mozarabic book illumination such as the Beatus manuscripts .

Horseshoe arch and alfiz frame

The horseshoe arch was already used in Visigoth architecture . In contrast to the Visigoth horseshoe arch, the Mozarabic arch is narrower and usually has a keystone . The arches are made of carefully cut and polished wedge stones, some of which are concave. They are framed by a rectangular bar, an Alfiz frame. Often twin windows (Ajímez) or triple windows are framed by an alfiz. The Puerta de San Esteban of the Mezquita of Cordoba, built around 786/787, is considered to be the model of the Mozarabic horseshoe arch with an alfiz frame. As with the entrance to the reception hall of the Medina Azahara palace, built between 953 and 957, the lines of the inner reveal and those of the outer arch back of the apse arch of San Miguel de Celanova are not concentric . The wedge stones of the apex are larger than those of the base of the arch.

  • Santa Comba de Bande, Visigoth horseshoe arch

  • Santa Eufemia de Ambía, keyhole window

  • Santiago de Peñalba, Mozarabic horseshoe arch with alfiz

  • Medina Azahara, Salón Rico, Moorish horseshoe arch with alfiz and non-concentric arch lines

  • San Miguel de Celanova, Mozarabic horseshoe arch with alfiz and non-concentric arch lines

Pillars, columns and capitals

Santa María de Lebeña, pillars and columns with Corinthian-inspired capitals

A Mozarabic innovation is the use of pillars that have columns set on two or even four sides . The column shafts are monolithic and made of marble . As in San Miguel de Escalada, Santa María de Lebeña or Santiago de Peñalba, they have Corinthian-inspired capitals with up to three rows of stylized leaves, which are separated from the column shaft by a dew band ring . On them are two or three stage, usually with beading decorated fighters . In San Cebrián de Mazote and San Miguel de Escalada there are also reused spolia capitals from Roman and Visigoth times, which served as models for the Mozarab stonemasons . The Mozarabic capitals differ from these through a notch-cut , rather two-dimensional decor, emphasized stylized leaf shapes with occasional depictions of animals such as birds and lions.

decor

Friezes can be found both on the outer walls below the roof approach and under the gables , where they are made of stone or brick, and on the inner walls, where they are made of stone or stucco . In San Miguel de Escalada, the cornices are decorated with tendril friezes and stylized leaf shapes or medallions with lions and birds. In Santa María de Lebeña, narrow bands with wavy lines and tendrils with buds are depicted. Frequently recurring motifs are braided ribbons .

Murals

Sant Quirze de Pedret, wall painting
San Baudelio de Berlanga, elephant with castle

Mozarabic frescoes can be found u. a. in the churches of San Baudelio de Berlanga (on site and in various museums), Santiago de Peñalba, Sant Quirze de Pedret (copies on site, originals in the Museu Diocesà i Comarcal de Solsona , the Diocesan Museum of Solsona ). The wall paintings in the Asturian churches of San Salvador de Valdediós and Santo Adriano de Tuñón also go back to Mozarabic influence in the depiction of crenellated steps and tendril friezes with lotus blossoms or pomegranates .

Shemales

San Xes de Francelos , window with transenna

The window frames of San Salvador de Valdediós and San Xes de Francelos (today Galicia ), which can be assigned to the pre-Romanesque buildings of Asturias, indicate Mozarabic builders in their ornaments of circular loops with heart-shaped motifs or keyhole-shaped openings, dew-ribbon frames with vines and depictions of birds .

Cámara oculta

As in the churches of the Visigothic period and the Asturian pre-Romanesque, there is a so-called cámara oculta , a hidden or blind chamber, in the Mozarabic churches . While these chambers in the Asturian churches have a large opening to the outside, often designed as a three-arcade (e.g. San Tirso in Oviedo or San Pedro de Nora ), the chambers of San Miguel de Escalada or Santiago de Peñalba are completely inaccessible. Even San Baudelio de Berlanga has such inaccessible chamber above the center pillar. Their meaning is not clear.

Mozarabic buildings in Spain

Mozarabic buildings in Portugal

  • The church of São Pedro de Lourosa in Lourosa from the early 10th century in the Christian-Islamic border area of ​​the Mondego region reveals connections to Asturian art.
  • The capitals of the former church of Santo Amaro in Beja are similar to those of San Cebrián de Mazote, Santiago de Peñalba or San Miguel de Escalada.
  • Architecturally related to Lourosa is the large sacred building in Idanha-a-Velha , which has recently been interpreted as the place's early Islamic prayer room.
  • A probably Almohad monument secured as a mosque can be found in Mértola , including a forest of columns , the stucco decoration of the mihrab niches, beautiful horseshoe arches and the typical, arched rectangular frame (alfiz).
  • The missing minaret in Mértola , probably from the 10th / 11th. Century, is present in Loulé in solid ashlar technology as the bell tower of the church of São Clemente .

literature

Web links

Commons : Mozarabic Architecture  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerhard N. Graf, José Mattoso, Manuel Luís Real: Portugal Roman. Le Sud du Portugal . Volume 1, Éditions Zodiaque, Abbaye de la Pierre-Qui-Vire 1986, ISBN 2-7369-0026-X , p. 93.
  2. ^ Jacques Fontaine: L'Art Préroman Hispanique . Volume 1, 2nd edition, Éditions Zodiaque, Abbaye de la Pierre-Qui-Vire 1973, p. 405.