Visigothic architecture

The Visigoths entered Hispania (modern Spain and Portugal) in 415, and they rose to be the dominant people there until the Moorish invasion of 711 brought their kingdom to an end.

This period in Iberian art is dominated by their style. Visigothic art is generally considered in the English-speaking world to be a strain of Migration art, while the Portuguese and Spanish-speaking worlds generally classify it as Pre-Romanesque.

Branches of Visigothic art include their architecture, their crafts (especially jewellery), and even their script.

Preamble
It is in the Visigothic kingdom of Hispania that classical culture throws its last brilliance in the West. The political role played by the episcopate, especially with Saint Leander and his brother Saint Isidore of Seville, the diffusion of education and writing (at the entrance to the Sevillian library, it was read: “It is here many sacred works, many secular works “, this verse alone traces a whole program), the importance of the urban society ensure a long survival to the inheritance of the Roman civilization, of which the kingdom of Toledo is more from a respect a conservatory.

It now appears that the diversity of forms and the variety of influences, Roman heritage, Byzantine and Germanic traditions, make Visigothic art an art of synthesis and that the very term “Visigothic art” can not have other than geographical meaning. Artistic events of this people is fully manifested from the vii th century, one can from this moment speak of a Visigothic art. In the field of monumental architecture, the almost total disappearance of Visigothic period buildings, especially in the major religious and cultural metropolises, is hardly offset by archaeological discoveries and the use of sculptural and decorative elements in monuments. later. It is therefore very difficult today to represent the real brilliance of Visigothic art. Only very rare rustic country churches have survived even though they are relatively well preserved.

This period of Iberian art is dominated by their style. The Wwisigoth art is generally considered in the Anglo-Saxon world as one of the strains of the Art of migration (as it has close similarities with the Merovingian art, the Anglo-Saxon Art or the Lombard art) while in the Spanish and Portuguese worlds it is generally classified as a pre-Romanesque art.

Visigothic art includes:

The architecture
The sculpture
The goldsmith
The writing

Visigothic architecture
Romanesque-Byzantine-inspired, the Visigothic architecture gives massive buildings, squat with thick walls in carved stone, usually religious. This is at least the case of the few rustic country churches that have survived to this day. The large urban churches, necessarily very different, have all disappeared, but it is known from the excavations that they were quite similar for the general conception of space to contemporary basilical plan churches found in Merovingian and Byzantine architecture. while we know very little about their elevation and decor.

The only remaining examples of their architecture from the 6th century are the church of San Cugat del Vallés in Barcelona, the hermitage and church of Santa Maria de Lara in Burgos, Saint Frutuoso Chapel in (Braga), the church of São Gião in (Nazaré) and the few remnants of the church at Cabeza de Griego, Cuenca. However, their style developed over the next centuries, though the prime remaining examples of it are mostly rural and often run-down. Some of the characteristics of their architecture are:

Generally basilican in layout, sometimes a Greek cross plan or, more rarely, a combination of the two. The spaces are highly compartmentalised.
Horseshoe arches without keystones.
A rectangular, exterior apse.
Use of columns and pillars with Corinthian capitals of unique design.
Barrel vaults with cupolas at the crosses.
Walls of ashlar blocks, occasionally alternating with Roman brickwork.
Decoration commonly of animal or plant motifs.

This artistic revival could also extend to the field of architecture. If, in terms of civil architecture, there are few remains, by cons some Visigothic churches in the north of the Iberian Peninsula are in a very good state of preservation that can be explained by several factors. First of all, with the exception of the San Antolín (es) crypt located under the San Antolín de Palencia Cathedral, they are located in a rural area less subject to upheavals than the urban environment, and then they were built in buildings. regions where the Moslem occupation was of relatively short duration, finally, symbols even of what they had to reconquer, they benefited, certainly,Reconquista and, in particular, Asturian rulers.

The vi th century, we should mention the church of the Monastery of Sant Cugat del Vallès. Although very deteriorated, it shows a single nave that ends with an apse whose plan will be repeated later in other churches belonging to the Mozarabic style. It is a semi-circular chapel on the inside, and rectangular on the outside. As for the rest, it follows mainly the paleochristian tradition in religious architecture.

Most of the churches date from the second half of the vii th century. This is the case of the Church of St. John the Baptist of Baños de Cerrato, near Palencia, the Chapel of São Frutuoso de Montélios, near Braga, the Santa Comba de Bande Church, south of Ourense., on the shores of the reservoir of Las Conchas, on the Limia River, and the church of San Pedro de la Nave, near Zamora, erected under the king Egica (687 – 700) in the years 690.

As for the church of Santa Maria Lara of Quintanilla de las Viñas, between Burgos and Santo Domingo de Silos, it was built at the beginning of the viii th century, only a few years before the Islamic invasion.

These churches are characterized by their beautiful apparatus, assembled dry. Their plans are varied, that of the chapel of São Frutuoso de Montélios recalls the plan of the mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna.

The carved decoration, which shows a retreat from figurative art to more abstract representations, occupies pilasters and columns, capitals and imposts. The sculptors worked even flat on the capitals which take, for this purpose, the shape of an inverted truncated pyramid. On those of the church San Pedro de la Nave, are represented floral or animal motifs, like birds pecking grapes, but also scenes from the Old Testament, like Daniel in the lion ‘s den or the sacrifice of Abraham, whose graphic treatment, which goes to the essentials, could have been inspired by miniature Visigoth manuscripts disappeared. The architects resorted to thehorseshoe arch, generally one-third of its radius for the examples that have come down to us, so less closed than some that are used in the Hispano-Arab buildings, which it is also anterior.

The triumphal arch, which opens on the apse of the church of St. Mary of Lara, rests on two transoms supported by columns; on the left transom, a man is carved, surmounted by a lunar symbol, and on the left, a rather feminine face bears a crown of solar rays. The two characters are framed by angels: the first symbolizes the Church and the second, Christ. Only the transept and the chevet remain of this church, which, on their outer circumference, are traversed by friezes of motifs inscribed in decorated circles; and so, at the foot of Mount Lara, alternate, on the blond stone, vines, scrolls with palm leaves, peacocks, roosters, quails and griffins…

Exemplars include:

Church of San Juan Bautista in Baños de Cerrato (province of Palencia)
Crypt of San Antolín in the cathedral of Palencia (province of Palencia)
Church of San Pedro de la Nave in San Pedro de la Nave-Almendra (province of Zamora)
Church of Santa Comba in Bande (province of Ourense)
Chapel of San Xes (or San Ginés) de Francelos in Ribadavia (province of Ourense)
Church of San Pedro de la Mata (in ruins) in Sonseca (province of Toledo)
Church of Santa María de Melque in San Martín de Montalbán (province of Toledo)
Suso monastery at San Millán de la Cogolla, La Rioja
Basilica of Santa María de Batres in Carranque (province of Toledo)
Hermitage of Santa María in Quintanilla de las Viñas (province of Burgos)
Church of Santa Lucía del Trampal near Alcuéscar (province of Cáceres)
crypt of the monastery of San Salvador de Leyre, Navarre
Head of the Church of San Miguel de los Fresnos (in ruins) in Fregenal de la Sierra (province of Badajoz)
Saint Frutuoso Chapel in Braga, (Portugal)
Church of São Gião in Nazaré, (Portugal)

Source from Wikipedia