San Salvador de Priesca

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
San Salvador de Priesca

San Salvador de Priesca is a pre-Romanesque church in the village of Priesca and belongs to the municipality of Villaviciosa . It is located about 50 kilometers northeast of Oviedo , the capital of the Spanish region of Asturias .

history

The church was consecrated in 921. This date was carved into a foundation stone that was lost during the restoration work at the beginning of the 20th century. The inscription has been handed down and names the date of consecration as the eighth day of the calendar of October in the year 959 of the Spanish era , which corresponds to September 24, 921 of our calendar. In 1913 the building was declared a Monumento Nacional ( Bien de Interés Cultural ). In 1936, during the Spanish Civil War , a fire caused great damage and destroyed part of the early medieval frescoes . A renovation took place in the 1990s, during which the wooden ceilings were renewed and the frescoes were preserved. The church is used today as a parish church.

architecture

Twin windows on the east gable

San Salvador de Priesca is a three-nave , from ashlar stone built basilica with three rectangular, barrel-vaulted apse . The main and side aisles have wooden ceilings and are separated by three arcades each, which rest on pillars with simple combatant capitals. In the west there is a vestibule with two side rooms and a gallery above . With the division into nine room parts (three apses, three naves, anteroom and two side rooms) on a rectangular floor plan, San Salvador de Priesca corresponds to the typical scheme of Asturian churches. Above the central apse is a small, inaccessible room that is only open to the outside through a twin window (ajimez), a so-called cámara oculta , which is also used in other pre-Romanesque churches in Spain such as B. San Baudelio de Berlanga occurs. The bell gable (espadaña) in the west and an extension to the south aisle, which is used as a sacristy , are additions from later times.

window

East facade

The two rectangular windows on the east facade have retained their original window grilles carved in stone . They are divided into three fields. The upper and lower fields consist of small arcades of three, the middle a rosette . Two twin windows have also been preserved, one on the east facade and another on the sacristy. The latter is no longer in its original location, but was later installed in the sacristy. It is surrounded by an Alfiz frame, which - like the horseshoe arches of the gable window - suggest a Mozarabic influence as a typical feature of Islamic architecture .

Frescoes

inside view

As in the Asturian churches of San Julián de los Prados and San Salvador de Valdediós , frescoes from the pre-Romanesque period have also been preserved in San Salvador de Priesca. They are located in the central nave, in the south aisle and in the apses. A figure seated on a throne can be seen in the central nave, the type of representation - like the side view of the throne - being reminiscent of the wall paintings in San Miguel de Lillo near Oviedo. On the barrel vaults and the walls of the apses, geometrical motifs such as square, hexagons and octagons or circles and ovals are depicted. The letters alpha and omega can also be recognized, which presumably hung down on the arms of a painted cross.

Sculpture jewelry

capital

The barrel vaults of the apses are supported by blind arcades , whereas those of the side apses are only painted. The columns have truncated pyramidal capitals with dew band rings and an abacus with a braided band decoration of intertwined straps. The capitals of the blind arcades are designed according to the Corinthian model and have two rows of stylized leaves with corner volutes . The capitals of the front arches have a series of tall, strongly ribbed leaves. The original choir screens (canceles) are now in the Archaeological Museum of Asturias ( Museo Arqueológico de Asturias ) in Oviedo.

literature

  • Achim Arbeiter , Sabine Noack-Haley: Christian monuments of the early Middle Ages from the 8th to the 11th century. Mainz 1999, ISBN 3-8053-2312-3 , pp. 207-211.
  • Lorenzo Arias Páramo: Guía del Arte Prerrománico Asturiano. 2nd edition, Gijón 1999, ISBN 84-95178-20-6 , pp. 99-102.
  • Jaime Cobreros: Guía del Prerrománico en España. Madrid 2006, ISBN 84-9776-215-0 , pp. 112-113.
  • Jacques Fontaine: L'Art Préroman Hispanique. Volume 1, 2nd edition, Éditions Zodiaque, Abbaye de la Pierre-Qui-Vire 1973.
  • Isabel Ruiz de la Peña: San Salvador de Priesca. 2004.

Web links

Commons : San Salvador de Priesca  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 43 ° 29 ′ 6.6 "  N , 5 ° 21 ′ 31.3"  W.