Spanish Romanesque in Castile
The fine churches of Northern Spain
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Spanish Romanesque in Castile
The fine churches of Northern Spain
Castile is one of the lesser known provinces of Spain. Its huge open landscapes, cornfields or open meseta, its big skies, and its poplar lined roads have an appeal quite different from the rocky, arid south or the moist Celtic north.
One of the greatest treasures of Castile is its wealth of Romanesque churches. From about 1000 to 1300 and even later, the Romanesque style dominated this area of Spain – the Gothic was slow to get started here. The French monastery of Cluny had a huge impact here – architectural influences were transmitted down the pilgrimage road to Santiago, and further south. On the pilgrimage path, you’ll find the pure Romanesque church of San Martin at Fròmista, and the monastery of San Juan de Ortega, among others. But the area also developed its own characteristic forms of architecture, such as the porticoes that line many of the churches, giving shelter for the poor and for pilgrims from the hot days and cold nights.
Soria retains many of its Romanesque churches. Even though the cathedral itself was rebuilt in the Plateresque style during the Renaissance, it kept its lovely Romanesque cloister. The church of Santo Domingo, with its fine arcaded west façade and wheel window, was commissioned by Alfonso VIII of Castile, who married Eleanor of England here in 1170. The west portal is particularly fine, with Christ the Pantocrator shown in the tympanum, and the Elders of the Apocalypse playing musical instruments in the archivolts – both traditional themes in Spanish Romanesque.
San Juan de Rabanera is also worth a visit. But the most unusual monument of Soria is the cloister of San Juan de Duero, down by the river. It’s amazingly sophisticated and elegant work, mixing a strong Moorish influence with Romanesque. From here, you can along the river Duero, and up the steps to the Ermita San Saturio, on a cliff high above.
The province of Soria has many more old churches, as well as fine castles, and small towns with fine arcaded squared. El Burgo de Osma, San Esteban de Gormaz, Berlanga del Duero, are all worth visiting.
Segovia has perhaps the great concentration of Romanesque churches of any city other than Soria. Did the great Roman aqueduct that still bestrides the lower district of the city perhaps influence the architects?
San Millan, down by the aqueduct, is typical with its huge arcades and fine, crisp carved capitals. Many of the capitals show imaginary monsters or interlace; others show Biblical scenes. San Martin, in the centre of town, has a less interesting interior, but three fine porticoes, one each side – though the northern portico has been incorporated into the fabric of the church at a later date.
But perhaps the most atmospheric of the Romanesque churches are found outside the town. From just outside the Alcazar, take a little path and steps steeply downhill towards the river, and you’ll find the church of La Vera Cruz in the fields beyond the little suburb of San Marcos. It’s a fine twelve-sided church, built around 1200 by the Templars, its centralised plan recalling the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
Or visit the little mudéjar village of San Lorenzo, a few minutes outside the walls of Segovia, to see this lovely church with its Romanesque portico outside. A horseshoe arch on the west wall, and a lovely mudéjar ceiling inside, pay testament to the Moorish influences in this area, as does the water channel in the market gardens below the church (a little alley leads there from the west end). 
Toro is a little visited town, out in the fields by the Duero river; it feels rather sleepy, but it contains one of the great monuments of Spanish Romanesque – the collegiate church of Santa Maria la Mayor. Its lantern (‘cimborrio’), similar to those of Zamora and Salamanca, dominates the view. The church was begun in 160 and its six rose windows are characteristically Romanesque, but construction continued till the Gothic style had taken over, as shown in the clearly Gothic west doorway.
Other churches in the town demonstrate the mudéjar tradition, influenced by Moorish styles rather than by the French Romanesque. San Salvador de los Caballeros, with its brick arcaded apses, or the Ermita Virgen de la Vega.
Further along the Duero is Zamora, a little better known than the smaller Toro. The Romanesque cathedral has another of the fine cupolas typical of the Romanesque of this part of Castile, perhaps influenced by Byzantine architecture and mixing these influences with the pure French style Romanesque. But there are other fine churches here, like San Esteban and San Juan de la Puerta Nueva, and even Romanesque houses like the so-called ‘House of the Cid’, and a Romanesque bridge over the Duero.
The third great cimborrio in this series is that of the old cathedral of Salamanca. Salamanca’s greatest monuments date from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when a huge new cathedral was built in a late Gothic style tinged with Renaissance influences. But the old cathedral was left standing while the new one was being built, and it remains there today, tucked under the wing of the mother church.
The old cathedral is a lovely Romanesque work, with its fine dome – known as the ‘Torre el Gallo’ (cockerel tower). The outside profile is striking, with a conical roof covered in fish-scale tiles. You can see how the Gothic started to have an influence, as the original plan for a wooden roof was changed to include a ribbed vault; the original capitals were superseded by little corbels which support the vault at a higher level. The old cloister also contains a Romanesque chapel with an interesting cupola; none of the ribs actually pass through the centre, and all of them are given different ornamentation - flowers, disks, zigzags, and billets.
Salamanca also has a unique circular church, San Marcos, on the northern edge of the city. Originally lit only by three tiny arrow slits, it’s a magnificent fortress-like building with walls several feet thick.
Nearby Avila is best known for its fine set of walls. Even the apse of the cathedral was built into the walls, making it an integral part of the city’s defences. But the finest Romanesque churches here are extra-mural; San Pedro, with its lovely wheel window, San Julian, and the basilica of San Vicente. San Vicente has a particularly fine collection of Romanesque carving, from the fine west portal with its figures of saints, to the shrine of San Vicente inside.