Santa Cruz (Castañeda)
The former collegiate church and today's parish church of Santa Cruz in Socobio , a place in the municipality of Castañeda in the Spanish autonomous region of Cantabria , was built in the last third of the 12th century. It was formerly part of a monastery, which was founded in the 10th century. In the Middle Ages, the place was at the crossroads of important roads and on the pilgrimage routes to Oviedo and Santiago de Compostela . The church, consecrated to the Holy Cross , has served as a parish church since 1851 . In 1930 it was declared a monument ( Bien de Interés Cultural ).
history
Few documents have survived on the history of the monastery, as a fire destroyed the monastery archive at the beginning of the 16th century. A document from the former monastery church of Santa María del Puerto in Santoña shows that in the late 11th century the monastery of Castañeda exchanged an inheritance in the village of Anero near Ribamontán al Monte for the Ermita Santiago in Camargo, who owned the relics of the Apostle James . The document not only proves the veneration of the apostle in the region at that time, it is mainly seen as an indication that Santa Cruz was an independent abbey with its own property even then. In the copy book of the Abbey of Santillana del Mar , an abbot Iohannis de Sancta Crux de Chastanieta is mentioned for the year 1103 .
The monastery was probably founded in the 10th century at the latest, possibly by monks who brought a relic of the cross of Christ and gave the monastery its name. The monastery experienced its heyday in the 12th century. At the end of the 12th century, the original Benedictine monastery was converted into an Augustinian canon monastery. The current church was built during this period, but without a cloister or other convent buildings. In the 16th century Santa Cruz was subordinated to the Canons of San Miguel in Aguilar de Campoo .
architecture
Exterior construction
The church is built from large, regularly hewn ashlar stones. From the original three-part apse the main is only apse and the northern side apse received. The main apse is broken through by three arched windows, each framed by two columns with figurative capitals and covered with archivolts with zigzag friezes . A massive, two-story structure rises above the crossing , forming a square at the bottom and an octagon at the top. To the west of the south transept is the square bell tower, which is pierced on all four sides by coupled sound arcades on its upper floor . Under the roof approach of the tower, the two apses and the octagonal structure above the crossing, a cornice runs that is supported by numerous, imaginatively carved corbels .
portal
The main portal, surrounded by simple archivolts, opens on the west facade. The heavily weathered capitals of the columns are decorated with lions, snakes and geometric motifs. Another entrance, a pointed arched double portal in the west of the north aisle, is partially walled up and covered by an open vestibule from the 16th century.
inner space
The single-nave church with a transept and a three-part apse, originally built over the plan of a Latin cross , has undergone major changes over time. In the north, in the 13th century, another three-bay nave with its own portal was added to the church , in which benefactors of the monastery were to be buried. A transept was added to this aisle in the 17th century. The barrel vault of the main nave was renewed at the end of the 16th or the beginning of the 17th century, probably after the fire that also destroyed the archive. Instead of the southern side apse, the sacristy and a chapel with a dome were built in the 18th century. The spandrels of the dome are covered with the polychrome stone sculptures of the four evangelists. The chapel had an indiano built by a Spaniard who emigrated to Peru from Cantabria .
The choir and the crossing are still preserved from the Romanesque building. The crossing is spanned by a dome that rests on trumpets with four superimposed arches. The dome is illuminated by small windows, some of which are designed in the shape of a horseshoe , which is considered a Mozarabic influence. The rows of stones in the vault, arranged in regular, concentric circles, testify to the skill of the medieval builders.
A chessboard frieze runs in the apse at the height of the window attachment , the wall surface below is taken up by arcades . The capitals feature depictions of animals such as birds and lions facing each other, or scenes from everyday life such as knights in duels and couples embracing.
Furnishing
- A Romanesque sculpture of a Madonna and Child is kept in the chapel of the north transept. She is represented as the new Eve with an apple in her right hand.
- In front of the central apse window there is a Gothic crucifixion group. The sculptures are carved from wood and painted in color. Christ is depicted with a crown, under the cross are Mary and John .
Funerary monuments
In the north aisle there are graves from the 13th and 14th centuries. The grave of Abbot Munio González († 1331), whose sarcophagus is decorated with coats of arms and carried by lions, is particularly elaborately designed . The lying figure of the deceased rests on the sarcophagus .
literature
- Jaime Cobreros: Las Rutas del Románico en España . Vol. 1, Madrid 2004, ISBN 84-9776-010-7 , pp. 43-44.
- Leaflet Colegiata de Santa Cruz de Castañeda . Ed. Museo Diocesano, Santillana del Mar, undated
Web links
- Santa Cruz de Castañeda romanicoaragones.com (Spanish, accessed August 18, 2013)
- Santa Cruz de Castañeda turismodecantabria.com (Spanish, accessed August 18, 2013)
Coordinates: 43 ° 18'52.3 " N , 3 ° 56'32.1" W.