Publication Date
The first half of the twelfth century AD
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Record ID
monument;ISL;es;Mon01;28;ar
Library Location
Sahagun, Leon, Spain
Date
The first half of the twelfth century AD
Notes
This church is located near the ruins of the San Benito Monastery in Sahagún. Its foundations, built of Roman stones, rest on a brick structure, which led to some difficulties in coordinating the forms of the two materials: decorative protrusion of solid brick arches and materials of different sizes. The building has a basilica design, and includes three naves separated by two large, perfectly round arches of different dimensions resulting from the repairs that changed the appearance of the interior, while keeping the exterior appearance unchanged. Previously, the naves were separated by five perfectly round arches, above which two framing pairs were placed separated by a small square wall jamb. The interior walls of the naves underwent continuous repairs until 1897, when the north door and portico were constructed. The fourth section of the church consists of the transept, which does not protrude outward, and its width is slightly more than the width of the naves. This pediment is arranged with horseshoe-shaped arches, giving it a shape close to that of pre-Roman iconostases. The supports are angular supports resting on a large cylindrical base. The chest constitutes the most original part of the church, although the left side chapel (the Gospel chapel) was a rebuilding in the twentieth century. The central mihrab rises above the Roman building; The wall, built with salvaged stones, rests on columns whose stone cylinders follow the arrangement of the salvaged stones. The chest or buttresses were not completed according to the Roman design, as wall supports were added to the columns and arches with double backs; They are important wall supports because they form the pattern that will later spread in the Douro area. Its structure is also cubic in shape, but stepped twice to the wall thanks to concave brick molds, and rests on the existing masonry. The upper half of the chest is made of brick in a single pattern, and the arch-frame decorative elements are repeated in a proportional manner nine times and end above a nacelle formed by a double concave molding. The tower is located above a straight section of the central chapel; It has a prismatic structure of rectangular cross-section, with huge shapes filled with many openings. The dimensions reach 4.70 meters in height and 2.80 meters in width, while the walls are 0.50 meters thick. The first block is cohesive; In the second, four openings form twin windows resting on Roman columns, while the third - the block - is crossed by a row of three arches on the large sides and four arches on the smaller ones. Finally, under the nacelle, there is a fourth structure composed of brick openings surmounted by perfectly round arches. The use of proportional arch-frame composition is found in the north wall of the San Mancio chapel, also in Sahagún. As for the early date of construction, the landmark is determined to be in the pre-classical period, according to the conventions established to define the different styles. The church has been recently restored.
Sample Text
Ángela Franco “San Tirso Church” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;es;Mon01;28;ar
