THE ROMANESQUE ROUTES: 1 1th, 12th AND 13th CENTURIES

CASTLES, TOWERS, WATCHTOWERS, CATHEDRALS, PARISH CHURCHES, ABBEYS, PALACES, BRIDGES, HOUSES AND GATEWAYS, AND MANY OTHER REMAINS, INTACT OR IN RUINS -NOTAS MANY AS AT ONE TIME, BUT A LARGE NUMBER, ALL THE SAME- PROVIDE US WITH PRECISE REFERENCES TO THAT EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPEAND ARE ALL EXAMPLES OF THE CULTURE AND CIVILIZATION WHICH, COLLECTIVELY, IS KNOWN AS uR~~~~~~~~~yy. n the Middle Ages, Catalonia was- and the families of the nobility became es- they were originally intended or else in an important centre of artistic pro- tablished. This new historical reality had to the museums of Barcelona, Vic, Solsona, duction, which emerged as a re- build the centres it needed practically Girona, La Seu d'urgell and Lleida. Ac- sult of the process of consolidation and from scratch and we can therefore say, cording to figures from the Patrimony de- developement of the country, both ma- metaphorically speaking, that the whole partment of the Generalitat, Catalonia terial and spiritual. Castles, towers, country was a construction site: episcopal has some 1,900 churches and some 200 watchtowers, cathedrals, parish churches, sees, abbeys, parish churches, manor castles and fortified houses with Ro- abbeys, palaces, bridges, houses and houses, castles and fortresses -al1 went manesque elements, a number of manor gateways, and many other remains, intact up together, giving a unity to the whole, houses and city palaces which have been or in ruins -not as many as at one time, that, in spite of what has disappeared, is partly reformed, unique buildings such as but a large number, al1 the same- pro- still easily imagined. Not everything that the Jewish mikwa, bridges and mills and vide us with precise references to that has survived from this' period has the same other less important elements, which add early medieval Europe and are al1 exam- value or the same interest. Between the up to a total of more than 2,000 remains ples of the culture and the civilization grand, monumental works, such as a great from the Romanesque age. which, collectively, is know as "Romanes- monastery or cathedral, and the rural Historically speaking, the counties of que1'. work, simple and repetitive, of the parish Catalonia lay along the north of the tradi- Once the initial period was over, when churches, there is the same difference as tional route towards Aragon, via the re- Romanesque art was at its peak, when the between a castle or a palace and a small gions of Anoia, Segarra and Urgell, and counts of Barcelona had been recognized farmhouse, but they are al1 important his- had an important network of roads of as rulers by the other counties and the torical evidence of the formation and which we have only scanty information links that subordinated them to the king of consolidation of Catalonia. There is no today. There was, for example, the road France were broken, when the expedition denying that the Catalan Romanesque which came from Tolosa de Llenguadoc, to Cordova (101 0) held off the threat of legacy is amongst the richest and most passed through the Cerdanya and conti- an Arab invasion, a favourable situation beautiful in Europe. As well as the nued on to Barcelona vial amongst other came about in which, coinciding with the buildings themselves, there are murals, il- towns, Besalú, Girona and Hostalric. From introduction of 'gold coin and a rapid luminated manuscripts, sculptures, altar- Barcelona, it turned west towards Olerd- growth in population, the hierarchic or- pieces and other obiects of the period, ola. We also know there was communi- ganization of the society was organized either preserved in the setiing for which cation between la Seu dlUrgell and Solso- ART

na, between Solsona and Cardona, be- tain centres were abandoned in favour of and doorways of the churches, with their tween Ripoll and Berga and that there the plain as the country was stabilized led columns and ornamentation, is character- were roads that left Barcelona for the to the survival of buildings which, not ized by its plant, animal and occasionally lower points of the March. Also, the being fully used, did not have their stmc- human themes and are remarkable for successive lines of the border, marked by tures altered or substituted by newer ones. the beauty of the material: pink marble the rivers Cardener, Llobregat and Gaia, From what has been said so far, it can be from the quarries of Vilafranca de Con- led to changes in the defense routes with seen that in any comprehensive discussion flent. The uniformity of the Roussillon their fortified and defensive elements. of the Romanesque routes we must not school of architecture is remarkable and Logically, buildings were concentrated forget those of Old Catalonia, around the its influence can be seen in nearby Cerda- round the nerve centres of the time or else most important counties, and those of nya and in the area around Girona (Lla- they were intentionally isolated from them New Catalonia, across the newly-incor- dó, Cistella and Besalú). In Perpignan, one as in the case of certain monastic institu- porated lands to the south and west. Simi- should visit the architectural remains of tions. All this happened in the "Old larly, we must bear in mind that, on the Sant Joan el Vell, with a magnificent Catalonia", between the rivers Tet and the north side of the Pyrenees, these historical sculptured doorway dominated by the Gaia but, when the Christian conquest routes do not conform to the present divi- "Maiestas Domini", a leading example was completed (1 148-49), and the sions (Roussillon, Conflent, Vallespir and from the end of the twelfth century and March lands of Tarragona and Tortosa French Cerdanya), nor do they do so in the beginning of the thirteenth, which and of Lleida and Camarasa had been the case of Vall &Aran or Ribagorqa, part takes after the sculpture of the baptistery incorporated, communication routes ex- of which are now in Aragon. of Parma. At the neighbouring town of tended throughout the territory known as Setting out from the north, one should visit Cabestany, now almost completely ab- "New Catalonia", which carried on the the first important Benedictine abbeys at sorbed by Perpignan, the tympanum by earlier construdion boom. This chronolo- Sant Marti del Canigó (first consecration the "master of Cabestany" (mid-twelfth gical difference between the two Catalo- 1009, second consecration 1014 or century) presents a renovation of the nias explains, in part, why there is such 1026) and at Sant Miquel de Cuixa, in the sculptural concept related to the classical a great density of Romanesque buildings valley of Codalet, (tenth, eleventh and backgrounds. This artist also worked on in the Pyrenees and pre-Pyrenees twelfth centuries), as well as the Augusti- the monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes and compared with the decreasing number as nian priory at Santa Maria de Serrabona other places in the south of France and in one approaches the plateau of the (eleventh to twelfth centuries) and the Tuscany. Continuing on our route, we Central Depression, and the almost sym- canonical church of Santa Mana &Espira come to Elna, where the cathedral, with its bolic nature of the Romanesque remains drAgli (second half of twelfth century). The basilican orientation (eleventh-twelfth in the south. Also, the fact that the moun- sculptural work of the cloisters, galleries century), survives as an example of Ro- manesque layout and decoratiori. One of 'tower (eleventh and twelfth centuries) mdnastery of Santa Maria, dominated by ' the wings of the cloister is an important apd the cathedral cloister, with outstand- anrapocalyptic version of the "Maiestas exÚmple of the work produced by the . ing sculptures related to those of the mó- -~$~i,niywhich relates a series of relevent Roussillon workshops. 'Sanf Andreu de - nastery of Sant Cugat del Valles, the events taken from the Old Testament. Sureda and Sant Genís les Fonts are two monasteiy of Sant Pere de Galligans Ripoll being one of the great centres of examples of an architectural style that (twelfth century), Sant Nicolau (eleventh repopulation 'of Old. Catalonia, founded straddles the tenth and eleventh centuries, century), the Moorish baths (Gelfth .to by Guifre el Pilós in 879, and at the same and also contains twelfth century el- thirteenth century), the episcopal palace time a centre of cultural diffusion, the Ro- ements. They respond to the same con- (twelfth century) and the "Fontana d'Of', mantic spirit of the nineteenth century was cept as the monastery of'Sant Pere de a good example of civic Romanesque. In attraded by its historical connotations . Rodes. They also have important sculpted the cathedral museum, one can see the and, applying, the criteria of the period, lintels and windows, dating from the elev- outstanding tapestry of the Creation, a work started on its restoration in 188.6, enth century. first class example of European Roma- thus saving it from the total ruin with which . As one enters the lands of Girona, the nesque (late eleventh, to early twelfth it was threatened. From Ripoll, one can , Benedidine monastery of Sant Pere de century). visit the monastery of Sant Joan de les Rodes (tdnth-eleventh and twelfth centu- The Central Depression, the Ripollhs re- Abadesses (twelfth century) and, from Vic, ry), the remains of Sant Miquel de Fluvia gion and that of Osona provide us with Santa Mana de I'Estany and Santa Eugh- (eleventh and twelfth centuries), the cano- two centres of capital importance in Old nia de Berga (twelfth century). The cathe- nical church of Santa Maria de Vilaber- Catalonia: Vic and Ripoll. The first has dral in Solsona maintains the original tran (eleventh to twelfth), the remains of been an episcopal see since the earliest arrangement of the old abbey of Santa Sant Domenec and the "Carme", at Pere- times and the second was an extremely Mana (twelfth century) and the nearby lada (twelfth to thirteenth century), the important Benedidine monastery, espe- church of Sant Esteve d'Olius preserves Holy Sepulchre of Palera (last quarter of cially in the time of the Abbot Oliva, and the structure of the eleventh century . the eleventh centu* and the group at one 'pf!he great cultural centres of the churches with crypt. Following the tradi-

4ii4ar~esqlú,'(~anta,.SL2+.- MariaiSant Pere, Sant Mi- E"rd$e% Romanesque world. In Vic, one tional route, in Cardona, seat of the vis- quel)'a&he*h&,examples of eleventh, should'dsit whatis left of the original ca- counts of the same name and also an ¡m- twelfth,and thirteenth century monasteries thedral, the belltower and the crypt (elev- pojnt centre during the reconquest, the and of' urban repqins, with their naked enth to twelfth century), incorporated in remains-of the castle, with its torre de la e * surfacea +d delicate ornamental and the. neo-Classical building, and in Ripoll minyona (eleventh century), the collegiate ~cúlpfUralwork. In Girona, the important we can contemplate, still on its original church of Sant Vicenc (consecrated in - Romanesqie nucleus is made up of the site, the huge monumental portal of the 1040), the thirteenth century palace and I the rnonastic buildings added later, al1 still part of the eleventh century city-walls still In the neighbouring Aragonese territory, provide an irnportant picture of the struc- survive, as well as the church of Santa LIú- one should visit the old episcopal see of ture of early Catalonia. Going up towards cia and the gallery in the courtyard of the Roda d'lsavena, directly linked to the Berga, Sant Llorenq prop Baga, Sant Bishop's Palace (thirteenth century), the Catalan expansion of the eleventh centu- Jaurne de Frontanya and Sant Quirze de Benedictine rnonastery of Sant Pau del ry. Following the route along the Segre Pedret, surrounded by beautiful coun- Carnp (twelfth century) and the twelfth valley we come to what is hisforically tryside, complete our picture of eleventh century chapels of Sant Llatzer and en known as New Catalonia, where century Catalonia. Following the line of Marcús. Balaguer, ~~ramunt,Cervera, Tarrega the traditional border, we come- across In the westernrnost part of Catalonia, the and Lleida offer us the opportunity to con- the Benedictine rnonastery of Sant Benet lands of the old counties of Urgell, Pallars, ternplate works which belong to a later, de Bages (twelfth to thirteenth century), and Ribagorqa still preserve rnany of their more developed Rornanesque style. On near Manresa, the church of Santa Maria Rornanesque buildings. The rnost out- the outskirts of Balaguer, the old Cister- de Matarnars (tenth to eleventh century) standing are the cathedral buildings of la cian rnonastery of Santa Maria de les and the parish church of Sant Martí de Seu dlUrgell. The churches of Santa Mana Franqueses (twelfth to thirteenth century) Mura (eleventh to twelfth century). Once and Sant Pere and Sant Miquel (eleventh and the Prernonstratensian abbey of in the Valles region, on the way to Barce- to twelfth century) show architectural el- Santa Maria de Bellpuig de les Avellanes lona, we can visit the old rnonastery of ernents on walls and faqades and, in the (Os de Balaguer, twelfth and thirteenth Sant Cugat, where there are rernains frorn decoration, sculptural elernents and picto- centuries); in Tarrega, the thirteenth centu- the Visigothic period, the three-naved rial rernains that rnake this group unique ry Palace of the marquises of la Floresta, church started in the twelfth century, the arnong the existing exarnples of the an example of city architecture, cornpara- bell-tower in the Lornbardic style and the Catalan art of the eleventh and twelfth ble to the Paeria in Lleida; in Agrarnunt, rnagnificent cloister frorn the end of the centuries. The valleys of the rivers Valira, the parish church (eleventh and thirteenth twelfth century. The sculptural work, re- Noguera Pallaresa and Noguera Riba- centuries) with a rnagnificent doorway lated to that of the see of Girona, depicts, gorqana contain innumerable rural exarn- which forrns part of a typical arrangernent arnongst plant and hurnan thernes, the ples in good condition (Isil, Aneu, Ribera known as the "Lleida shool"; in Cervera, master sculptor Amau Cladell at work, de Cardós, Erill, Barniera, Boí, Taüll, etc.) on the outskirts, Sant Pere el Gros, an in- with an inscription by which he is identi- that fall into the sarne category as those to teresting eleventh century building, with a fied. Continuing the route to Terrassa, the be found in the Vall dlAran (Arties, circular floor-plan, and the south door of group of churches of Santa Maria, Sant Salardú, B6ssots, etc.), as well as specific the early church of Sant Martí, which Pere, and Sant Miquel are a living testi- exarnples of Benedictine rnonasticisrn, fortns part of the Gothic group of the rnony to the episcopal see of the old city such as Sant Serní de Tavemoles (elev- archipresbiterial church .Q# Santa Maria. of Egara, transfortned during the ninth, enth century), Santa Maria de Gerri Finally, in Lleida, already an irnportant tenth, eleventh and twelfth centuries. In (twelfth century), Sant Pere d'Ager (elev- centre during the Arab dornination, re- Barcelona, rnost of the Rornanesque city enth and twelfth centuries), Sant Pere de conquered in 1 149, we find the following was rebuilt or cornpletely reforrned over Ponts (twelfth century) and Santa Mana Rornanesque buildings, intad or oth- the course of history, but, if nothing else, de Gualter (twelfth to thirteenth century). erwise: La Seu Vella (1 203-78),with a three-naved basilica, a wide transept and Santa Tecla la Vella and the chapel of manesque", concentrating on architectu- magnificent sculptured doors (Fillols and Sant Pau (within the cathedral precinct) ral examples, which, once built, generate Anunciata) which gave the name to the and the hospital facade; and, in the centre other artistic aspects (painting, sculpture) important "Lleida school", characterized of the Roman amphitheatre, beside the to complement their characteristic period by its decorated archivolts supported on sea, over the remains of a visigothic basili- style. Most of these obiects are kept in the columns, with capitals that are also ca, the church of Santa Maria del Miracle. museums mentioned above. References to carved, and found in the nearby towns Travelling inland from Tarragona, one ruins and archaeological remains of and even as far away as Valencia cathe- can start a double historic route, that of castles have not been included because of dral; the restored thirteenth century- the Cistercians (monastery of Santes the general lack of information and their buildings in the Suda (the clergyhouse and Creus, Poblet and Vallbona de les particular complexity. the almshouse); the churches of Sant Llo- Monges) which preserves thirteenth Finally, I would add that, although I ex- renc and Sant Martí (thirteenth century) century remains amongst splendid works tend the concept of Romanesque into the and the Paeria, now the City Hall. On the of art of a later date, and that of the mili- thirteenth century, Romanesque culture outskirts of the ciiy, there is the church of tary orders (Miravet and Ulldecona took shape in the last years of the tenth Santa Maria de Gardeny, an important castles and the ruins at Gandesa) which, century and in the eleventh century, Templar monastery. at Catalonia's southern limits, include spread during the twelfth century, and the Our final route takes us towards Tarrago- examples of thirteenth century buildings vestiges that lasted into the thirteenth na. Few Romanesque buildings have that still make use of Romanesque struc- century are no more than specific points survived in the Penedes region but, from tures and techniques. In this area, com- that retain the traditional forms and tech- Vilafranca, it is well worth visiting the prising the regions of Tarragona, Camp, niques, but which belong to a different group of Sant Martí Sarroca (church and Conca de Barbera and Montsia, we find historical and cultural situation in Catalo- castle, twelfth to thirteenth century), Sant Miquel d'Escornalbou, a former nia: the thirteenth century, still largely un- Olerdola (church of Sant Miquel, ninth to Augustinian clergy-house, the Carthu- known and little studied as a specific twelfth century, and chapel of the Holy sian monastery of Santa Maria dlEscala reality (1). • Sepulchre, with paintings from the ninth Dei, the church of Siurana, that of pla century) and the group at Calafell (castle de Santa Maria and the faqade of the and church of the Holy Cross, ninth centu- church of Sant Miquel de Montblanc, ry). Once across the Gaia, Tarragona, an al1 important examples of late Roma- important Roman city and see of the Met- nesque. (1) In this respect, it may be of interest to consult the guides and publications issued by the Direcció Ge- ropolitan archbishopric of Catalonia, ex- Having completed this brief account of neral de Turisrne de la Generalitat and, for a deeper amples of Romanesque architecture the routes of the Romanesque, it only re- undentanding of the subiect, the following works are which are al1 of a later date than the con- mains to mention, obviously, those recommended: quest of 1148: the arrangement of the buildings and specific points which ex- Núria de Dalmases and Antoni José i Pitarch, Els ini- cis iel Rornanic, s. IX-x// (Historia de I'Art Catala, vol. l. cathedral, the apse, the side doors of the ceed the scope of this article. Reference E. 62, Barcelona, 1986) and L'epoca del Cister, s. XIII faqade, the cloister and entrance and the has intentionally been limited to what is (Historia de I'Art Catala, vol. II. E. 62, Barcelona, sculptured altar frontal; the church of traditionally and academically called "Ro- 1985).