Santa María (Santa Cruz de la Seros)
The current parish church of Santa María in Santa Cruz de la Serós , a municipality in the province of Huesca in the Spanish autonomous region of Aragon , was largely built at the end of the 11th century. It is the only remnant of a Benedictine monastery that existed until 1555. In 1931 the church was declared a monument ( Bien de Interés Cultural ).
history
There was already a monastery in the village in the 10th century. In the middle of the 11th century, Ramiro I , King of Aragón , provided it with goods when he gave his daughter, Doña Urraca, into care there. In 1070 another daughter of Ramiro, Doña Sancha, entered the monastery after the death of her husband. She was the widow of Ermengol III. , the Count of Urgell, and became abbess of the monastery. A short time later, Ramiro's third daughter, Doña Teresa, retired to the monastery. During this time the monastery was given the name Santa Cruz de las Sorores (Monastery of the Holy Cross to the Sisters), which later became Santa Cruz de la Serós . The monastery developed into the most prestigious women’s convent in Aragon, which was attended by members of the royal family and many noble ladies. Numerous villages, churches and estates belonged to the monastery, in which the abbesses ruled . In 1555 the nuns moved to Jaca . The magnificent sarcophagus of Abbess Doña Sancha, commissioned by her nephew Pedro I , King of Aragon and Navarre , after her death in 1097 , is kept there today . After the nuns moved, the monastery buildings in Santa Cruz de la Serós fell into disrepair.
architecture
Exterior construction
The church is built from large, regularly hewn ashlar stones. The four-story tower, which was built in the middle of the 12th century, rises above the southern arm of the transept. It is covered by a dome over an octagonal structure of low height and is broken up on three storeys by round-arched twin windows. One window has a winding central column.
The main apse is divided into three fields by two three-quarter columns , each with an arched window. People and animals can be seen on the capitals of the two columns, one scene could represent Daniel in the lions' den . The lateral apses are closed on the outside and hardly protrude beyond the transept .
The main portal opens on the west facade of the church. Another portal, which probably served as access to the no longer preserved cloister , is on the south side. It is covered by an archivolt with a scroll frieze and has a tympanum on which a six-spoke wheel with six flower buds is depicted.
Run under the canopy of the main entrance, the umbrella approach the apse, the two side apses and the north transept, usually with checkerboard frieze decorated cornices upon numerous corbels rest with human and animal figures. You can see snakes, a hare, heads and fruits.
Corbels on the apse
Corbels on the apse
Corbels over the west portal
West portal
The arched portal is surrounded by archivolts and framed by two columns on each side. The capitals are decorated with stylized leaf representations and figurative scenes with people and wild animals. The fighters on the south side are decorated with rosettes . An archivolt is studded with small spheres, the middle of which is carved as a human head. On the tympanum emblazoned in the middle of a Chrismon , laterally two lions are shown. The Latin inscription is carved on the edge of the lintel : "CORRIGE TE PRIMUM VALEAS QUO POSCERE XRISTUM" (Get better before you call on Christ). There is another inscription on the circle of the Chrismon, the translation of which is: “I am the simple door, enter through me, believers, I am the source of life, thirst for me more than for wine, all you in tread this blessed temple of the Virgin ”.
inner space
The church is built on the plan of a Latin cross . It has a transept and three apses . The nave , which dates back to the 11th century, has a single nave and is divided into two bays . It is covered with a barrel vault, which rests on pilasters with pillars and capitals with figural scenes. A chessboard frieze runs at the beginning of the vault and continues in the apse. A double triumphal arch leads to the choir. The cross-rib vaulted transept arms open to small, semicircular apse niches in the east.
Chamber above the crossing
Above the vault of the crossing there is a cámara secreta (secret chamber), the function of which has not been clarified. Stone stairs lead to this chamber. Their access on the north side of the ship, below the vault approach, was originally only accessible with a ladder. Today a modern spiral staircase allows access. The room cannot be recognized from the outside either, as it takes the place of the otherwise usual crossing dome. Perhaps it served as a sanctuary for the nuns in times of danger. The chamber is built on an octagonal floor plan with side niches and is spanned by a dome with an unadorned cornice at the base. The dome is underpinned by two broad vaulted ribs, which are formed by a double row of round bars and which rest on pillars with capitals. One capital shows different scenes of the Annunciation on two sides, another capital is decorated with pine cones. From the chamber there is access to the second tower floor.
Furnishing
- The chapel of the north transept has a retable from 1490 with scenes from the life of Mary . The alabaster figure of the Madonna and Child also dates from the 15th century.
literature
- Jaime Cobreros: Las Rutas del Románico en España . Vol. II, Madrid 2004, ISBN 84-9776-112-X , pp. 176-178.
- Cayetano Enríquez de Salamanca : Rutas del Románico en la provincia de Huesca . Enríquez de Salamanca Editor, 2nd edition, Madrid 1993, ISBN 84-398-9582-8 , pp. 43-45.
Web links
- Santa Cruz de la Serós: Santa María romanicoaragones.com (Spanish, accessed August 21, 2013)
- Monasterio de Santa María de Santa Cruz de la Serós (Huesca) arteguias.com (Spanish, accessed August 21, 2013)
Coordinates: 42 ° 31 ′ 20.7 " N , 0 ° 40 ′ 26.7" W.