San Miguel de Escalada

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San Miguel de Escalada (Spain)
San Miguel de Escalada
San Miguel de Escalada
San Miguel de Escalada
San Miguel de Escalada
View from the southwest

San Miguel de Escalada is a pre-Romanesque church in the Mozarabic style. It belongs to the municipality of Gradefes in the Spanish province of León in the autonomous region of Castile and León and is located about 30 km northeast of the provincial capital León . In the Middle Ages , the monastery was a stop on the Way of St. James .

history

At the end of the 9th century, monks from Cordoba built a monastery on the site of a dilapidated Visigothic church that was dedicated to the Archangel Michael . Like other Christians from Moorish Spain, these monks spread an art and culture influenced by Islam . After the Christian reconquest ( reconquista ) of the areas north of the Duero in the second half of the 9th century, their repopulation ( repoblación ) was encouraged. As the number of monks in La Escalada increased, a new church was built. This emerges from a lost dedicatory inscription, the content of which has been preserved in a copy . It dates the consecration of the church by Gennadius , Bishop of Astorga and founder of the Santiago de Peñalba monastery , to the year 951 of the Spanish era , which begins 38 years before our era , consequently to the year 913. It is expressly mentioned that the construction work under the reign of King García I and his wife Mumadonna was completed within twelve months, not because of rulers' orders or the oppression of the people, but through the tenacity and circumspection of the abbot and the monks. In 1156 King Alfonso VII subordinated the monastery to the Order of Saint Rufus in Avignon .

In 1886 the church was declared a Monumento Nacional ( Bien de Interés Cultural ). Only the church with its portico has survived from the construction of the 10th century ; the tower and the chapel were added in the 11th century.

architecture

Exterior construction

The building is made of broken stone and house stones , the upper facade - to reduce weight - from bricks . Five narrow arched windows are cut into the upper aisle on both sides, framed by a limestone block and closed with alabaster panes.

The east and west gables are pierced by a 1 m high and 30 cm wide window with a monolithic window grille . Under the roof approach, there are stone consoles decorated with notch-cut ornaments such as sun wheels or vortex stars , which were probably originally made of wood and served as rafter heads . These roller consoles are - like the Alfiz , the Transennen or the three-quarters closed horseshoe arches - typical of Mozarabic buildings. Underneath, a toothed frieze made of bricks runs around the entire facade . A similar frieze can be found on the Mezquita de Córdoba , begun around 785 , which probably served as a model.

inner space

inside view

The church is a three-aisled basilica with three horseshoe-shaped apses that are closed at right angles on the outside. Between the apses and the five-year nave there is a transept that does not protrude outwards and is separated by four meter high arcades with equally large horseshoe arches . These arcades had a similar function to the iconostases of the Eastern churches. A frieze with medallions made of leaf tendrils runs above the arcades , in which a bird with a fish in its beak or birds pecking grapes. As in Santa María de Quintanilla de las Viñas , lions, peacocks, eagles, ibises and pelicans are depicted. Originally these arcades were provided with curtains and ornamented stone barriers ( canceles ), nine of which have been preserved. In addition to geometric motifs, like the frieze, they feature vines, palmettes and birds pecking grapes. Like the somewhat larger arcades between the central and the two side aisles, they rest on marble columns of different colors with Corinthian capitals, which were reused and date from the late Roman or Visigothic period . The capitals are made of limestone or marble and are very carefully worked. In addition to volutes and palmettes, lions and birds are depicted. Remnants of black and red paint suggest that it was painted in the past.

The oak ceiling in the Mudejar style of the central nave dates back to the 15th century. It shows sun gears, the coat of arms of Castile-León and the scallop shell .

Portico

Portico
Capital of the portico

On the south side of the church there is an unusual portico built in regularly hewn cuboids with twelve horseshoe arches over 13 slender, partly reused columns with leaf capitals . The number twelve can be interpreted as a reference to the twelve apostles or the twelve gates of the heavenly Jerusalem . The portico is the only remaining part of the cloister ; the seven western arches are framed by an Alfiz frame, the five eastern arches have a simpler design and were added in the 11th century. The capital of the eighth column is attributed to the Omayyad art and dates from the 8th century. It has volutes and sun symbols .

In the west of the portico there is a twin window ( ajimez ) with two small, tightly closed horseshoe arches and an alfiz frame. The central column made of marble carries a leaf capital. There are two entrances to the church from the portico.

literature

Web links

Commons : San Miguel de Escalada  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Coordinates: 42 ° 33 ′ 36 "  N , 5 ° 18 ′ 53"  W.