Sant Jaume (Sant Jaume de Frontanyà)
The Roman Catholic Church of Sant Jaume is in Sant Jaume de Frontanyà , a Spanish municipality in the Comarca Berguedà of the province of Barcelona ( Catalonia ) - next to the churches of Sant Vicenç in Cardona , Sant Cugat del Racó , Sant Pere de Rodes and Sant Ponç de Corbera - one of the oldest and most impressive buildings of early Romanesque architecture in northern Catalonia. The Romanesque church is dedicated to the Apostle James ( Sant Jaume in Catalan ); it was built in the 11th century and declared a cultural monument ( Bien de Interés Cultural ) in 1931.
history
A church with this name is mentioned in a document as early as 905; this possibly stood at the ruins now known as Sant Jaume el Vell , about one kilometer northeast of today's church. Of the monastery founded in the middle of the 11th century, only the church built in the second half of the 11th century remains. The monastery, which later belonged to the Augustinian Canons, no longer had any monks from 1395 ; In 1592, the Catalan branch of the Augustinian Order was officially dissolved by a decree of Pope Clement VIII .
A cloister existed until the 15th century ; the other outbuildings of the monastery complex were demolished or used as a parsonage , which was eventually also demolished during restoration work in the 20th century.
architecture
Stone material
Halfway precisely hewn stones were used to build the church, which could be walled up in layers and as a composite.
Exterior construction
The now free-standing, former monastery church consists of a single nave and a transept , adjoined by three apses . The middle apse shows - like the west facade - a pilaster structure with a rounded arched frieze ; the two lateral apses have no vertical structure, but also end with round arch friezes. A twelve-sided structure ( cimbori ) rises above the crossing with a wreath of surrounding windows . The transept facades and the almost windowless nave are not structured and have no decoration. The west portal is simply stepped back, but has no recessed columns with capitals . The large round window seems to have been added later; the small cross-shaped window above, however, is original.
The single-storey, but wide-open bell tower, which looks more like a bell gable ( espadanya ), also belongs to a later construction period (16th century).
Interior
The interior of the church, consisting of two bays , is barrel-vaulted and covered by belt arches ; the latter rest on masonry wall templates ( pilasters ) with triple- profiled fighters , which - although only rounded - extend to a surrounding cornice . The crossing is covered by a brick dome , the corner gussets of which rest on trumpets . The two arms of the transept are also barrel vaulted. The central apse has a structure consisting of five high blind niches with brick pillars in between. All three apses show the usual dome vault .
literature
- Vicenç Buron: Esglésies Romàniques Catalanes. Artestudi Edicions, Barcelona 1977, ISBN 84-85180-06-2 , p. 133.
- Joan Ainaud de Lasarte: Catalogne novels. 3rd edition, La Pierre-qui-Vire (Zodiaque) 1994, ISBN 2-7369-0208-4 , pp. 63-65.
Web links
- Sant Jaume de Frontanyà, church - photos + info (catalan)
- Sant Jaume de Frontanyà, church - floor plan, photos + information (Catalan)
Coordinates: 42 ° 11 ′ 14.1 ″ N , 2 ° 1 ′ 27.6 ″ E