Santa María del Castillo (Buitrago del Lozoya)
The church of Santa María del Castillo is located in the old town of Buitrago del Lozoya in the north of the autonomous community of Madrid in central Spain, which is surrounded by a medieval city wall .
history
Despite its Romanesque appearance at first glance, the church construction dates back to the early 14th century - the year 1321 has been passed down as the year of completion. Larger windows were installed in the 15th century; The blind arches on the south side may also belong to this renovation project - in any case, the two chapel extensions on the south side and the late Gothic portal in the west come from this period. Another 50 to 100 years later, the west side received a small portico , which rests on two columns with a clear Renaissance character .
During the Spanish Civil War the church was looted and set on fire; afterwards it was in a badly ruinous condition for decades and useless for worship. Only in the 1980s did the reconstruction begin, which also included new elements.
architecture
Stone material
With the exception of the buttresses made of precisely hewn stone material ( sillería ) and the polygonal broken apse , the actual church building is built from unprocessed rubble stones ( mampostería ). In the tower, there are also decorative bricks ( ladrillos ), which refer to Mudejar traditions.
Exterior construction
While the north side of the nave is undivided with the exception of the buttresses, there are two large blind arches on the south side, slightly pointed at the apex. With the exception of a tracery window on the west side, two small windows on the south side and two small apse windows , the church building is windowless. The mostly open door contributed to the exposure of the nave.
tower
The bell tower of the church, built on a square floor plan, is completely undivided in the lower area and is only illuminated through a loop - slit -like window slot . Above the eaves cornice of the nave of the church there is a large window opening made of bricks on all four sides and stepped back twice; A twin window ( ajimez ) , divided by a bricked and plastered central column, with a rectangular bricked outer frame opens up above a cornice consisting of two brick layers, but hardly protruding . On the upper floor of the tower there are two separate windows - also with rectangular outer frames; the corners of the upper floor are clad with bricks on all four sides from halfway up. Under the eaves of the tower there is a circumferential serrated frieze and a slightly protruding console frieze . The tower combines features of the Mudéjar style and the Lombard style in its structure and decorative elements .
Portal and west window
Originally, you probably only entered the church through the small gate on the south side. The slightly jagged late Gothic west portal with coats of arms in the upper side gussets and a featured Renaissance - portico are later additions. The window above shows late Gothic tracery and a deeply profiled frame without capitals .
Portal and portico
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inner space
The exposed nave, about eleven meters wide, twenty meters long and ten meters high, used to have a Gothic ribbed vault . The current ceiling construction in Artesonado style, resting on wooden consoles , was only created during the restoration of the church in the 1980s. The raised apse area is set off from the rest of the church by three non-load-bearing but decorative wooden arches and by a pyramid-shaped ceiling from the Hospital de San Salvador .
chapel
The Capilla del Santísimo y del Perdón , which was probably added in the 15th century on the south side of the church building , also has a wooden ceiling ( alfarje ), but it is made in a completely different and easier to manufacture manner: Thinner knots, which were often used in the past, lie lengthways over thick cross beams were still covered with transverse layers of reeds. This type of ceiling construction is sometimes still found today in Berber architecture in southern Morocco.
Web links
- Buitrago del Lozoya, church - video (spanish)
- Buitrago del Lozoya, church - photos
- Buitrago del Lozoya, church - photos + brief information (Spanish)
Coordinates: 40 ° 59 ′ 41.9 ″ N , 3 ° 38 ′ 7.4 ″ W.