Santiago del Arrabal (Salamanca)
The Santiago del Arrabal Church in Salamanca is a rare example of the Mudejar style in the province of Salamanca in northwestern Spain . The church is dedicated to the Apostle James , the patron saint of the Reconquista .
location
The church is located outside the former city walls of Salamanca near the Roman bridge over the Río Tormes , next to which the monument to Lazarillo de Tormes stands.
history
The church was first mentioned in a document from 1145; However, it is uncertain whether it is the same structure. But even then it was called the Church of the Mozarabs , whose integration into the citizenry appeared to be difficult, so that they had to build their church outside the city walls. In the 18th century the interior of the church was completely redesigned in Baroque style ; externally, only the upper middle part of the west facade with the bell gable ( espadaña ) was affected. In the years 1951 to 1965, the plastered, but almost dilapidated church was extensively restored, but components and wall decorations were also invented - such as the transept and the crossing tower .
architecture
With the exception of the upper middle section of the west facade, which was added later, the church is made entirely of bricks . The techniques of burning and decorative brickwork had already been used by the Romans in the north of the Iberian Peninsula , but they had been forgotten in the following years until they were returned to Andalusia by wandering craftsmen in the years of the reconquest ( reconquista ) of Andalusia advanced the north. Mainly in Toledo , later also in Zamora , Toro and Sahagún , important church buildings were built from bricks in the Mudejar style .
Exterior construction
The church has two portals protruding slightly from the wall - one on the west and the other on the south side. Both are designed as archivolt portals with multiple arches and have side walls . Above the portals there are friezes with tooth cut patterns . The side windowless blind arches are only simple in design, but show the beginnings of sharp points in the apex of the arch. The wall decor of the three apses is significantly richer - here there are double blind arches and on the optically two-storey central apse there are even overlapping arches, which result in clear pointed arches .
Above the south portal and mirror-inverted in the middle of the north side, the building is raised, creating a transept architecturally , which in turn is elevated by a squat crossing tower with round windows . Overall, the church has the layout of a Greek cross and thus differs from the usual church buildings based on a Latin cross .
Interior
The baroque interior of the church has three aisles and, since the extensive restoration of the building, has received its light mainly through the windows in the transept and in the elevated crossing. The narrow apse windows let only little light into the room.
See also
Web links
Coordinates: 40 ° 57 '31.6 " N , 4 ° 40' 5.9" W.