Santianes de Pravia

The Church of Santianes de Pravia is the oldest surviving pre-Romanesque church in the former Kingdom of Asturias . It is located in the hamlet of Santianes , about 45 kilometers from Oviedo , the capital of the autonomous Spanish region of Asturias , and belongs to the municipality of Pravia .

history

The church, consecrated to both the apostle and the evangelist John , was built under the Asturian king Silo (774–783). As the Crónica Albeldense reports, he moved his court from Cangas de Onís to Pravia, the Roman Flavium Avia, a crossroads of Roman roads . The church built there was to have a similar significance for Spain, which remained Christian, as the first building of the Great Mosque of Cordoba for Moorish Spain, which was built a few years later .

architecture

Layout

Santianes de Pravia is a three-aisled , wooden-roofed pillar basilica . Nave and aisles are made of brick built arched arcade separated, the on square pillars with fighters capitals rest. The nave has only two yokes . With the adjoining, three-part transept, it forms a square. A semicircular apse opens to the east . Both the single apse and its semicircular shape are unusual and differ from the right-angled three-apse of the other pre-Romanesque churches in Asturias. On the west side there is a square entrance porch . The walls are made of roughly hewn stones embedded in mortar . Inside, remains of the original painting have been preserved on the plaster .

Keyhole shaped window

window

On the south facade there is a window in the shape of a keyhole, which dates to the 10th century and is attributed to Mozarabic influence. A tightly closed horseshoe arch is cut into a white limestone slab that rests on two pillars. A similarly designed twin window is attached to a wall in the north aisle.

Furnishing

Reconstruction of the inscription plaque with a crossword labyrinth

During renovation work in 1894, the altar from the time the church was built was discovered in the front wall of the apse with cafeteria and stipes and fragments of the choir screens (canceles). Copies can be seen on site. What has been preserved is a limestone fragment with the donor's inscription , which is designed as a crossword labyrinth and which consists of the words: Silo Princeps Fecit (King Silo made it). In lapidary the sacristy more fragments are stored with the foundation inscriptions. On the fragments of a three-arched lintel there was an inscription with the reference to the consecration of the church, the translation of which reads: This house was built in honor of the apostle and evangelist John .

Baptismal Piscina

Baptismal font

A baptismal piscina with a drain was discovered in the opus signinum floor of the south aisle . It is almost square with the side lengths of 56.5 cm and 61.5 cm and has a depth of 26.5 cm. During the baptism ceremony, the person to be baptized stood in the recess and was doused with water.

literature

Achim Arbeiter , Sabine Noack-Haley: Christian monuments of the early Middle Ages from the 8th to the 11th century , Mainz 1999, ISBN 3-8053-2312-3 , pp. 99–110.
Lorenzo Arias Páramo: Guía del Arte Prerrománico Asturiano. 2nd edition, Gijón 1999, ISBN 84-95178-20-6 , pp. 13-14.
Jaime Cobreros: Guía del Prerrománico en España. Madrid 2006, ISBN 84-9776-215-0 , pp. 113-114.
Jacques Fontaine: L'Art Préroman Hispanique. Volume 1, 2nd edition, La Pierre-qui-Vire (Zodiaque) 1973, pp. 262-267.

Web links

Commons : Santianes de Pravia - Collection of images, videos and audio files

43.501944444444 -6.0991388888889Coordinates: 43 ° 30 '7 " N , 6 ° 5' 56.9" W.