Basilica of St. John of the Baths (7th Century)

The oldest church in Spain. The Basilica of San Juan de Baños, a prominent Visigod monument, was consecrated in 661 by King Recesvinto, and is considered one of the most significant examples of religious architecture of the Spanish-Visigod kingdom. The basilica was declared a National Monument in 1897.

Anxo Galego

Tim Veater Anglo-Norman art, sometimes known as Romanesque art in England, is the historiographical term used to designate the artistic production—mainly architectural and corresponding to Romanesque art in the rest of the continent—that occurred in medieval England from the 1040s—particularly after the Norman Conquest of 1066—until the advent of Gothic architecture around 1180. After the destruction of Canterbury Cathedral in a fire in 1174, Norman architects introduced the new Gothic architecture. Around 1191, Wells Cathedral and Lincoln Cathedral imposed the English Gothic model, so that the Norman style increasingly came to be reserved for small provincial buildings.

Tim Veater

Anxo Galego The above is 7th C. in what is commonly termed the "Dark Ages", the interregnum between the civilization of the Roman Empire and the emerging 'Renaissance' about five hundred years later centred on Italy and Europe. Despite the histoiographical labelling, people still lived and died, went about their business, excercised their beliefs, superstitions and allegiances. Life, trade and power politics continued unabated but left a less vivid and dramatic mark - hence the label attached to it. That is why this building is so special, as it clearly demonstrates a link architecturally and culturally between two epochs: the Roman and Christian world view. It is on a relatively small scale located on the 'off centre' Iberian Peninsula, but it translates and adapts the Roman Temple to the new belief system. We see how the Jewish concept of the 'Holy of Holies' morphs into nave and chancel through the Roman round arch. The pillars are round and unmoulded, although the capitals are third period 'Corinthian'. The focal point, the altar that substitutes a notional sacrifice for a real one; a propitiation for personal sin in place of placating the gods. How grand are the 'Norman' buildings that come much later. All of this in contrast to the current phase of religious and philosophical scepticism, atheism and redundant churches!

Chapel of St. Miguel de Celanova

Mozarabe in its pure state

https://www.turismo-prerromanico.com/home-b__trashed-2__trashed-2__trashed-2-2-2/en/monumento/san-miguel-de-celanova-20130525173029/

"The final result is that in this small building of less than 22m2 we can demonstrate unquestionably the relationship between Visigothic art and its successor, the Mozarabic art that, as we have mentioned, from our point of view it should be denominated “Neovisigothic”. In fact, all in it is a chant to eclecticism that lets builders follow their criterium in each building the artistic or technical elements known at every moment, without having to abide to pre fixed norms, what generates a creational freedom that we consider the most meaningful characteristic of these two periods of Spanish high medieval art. In San Miguel de Celanova we find elements taken from San Fructuoso de Montelios, like the type of construction, the appearance of the cruciform structure and its external looks in general together with some detail of Asturian art, like the buttresses; all of that joined to covering techniques and, maybe the most important, the Arabic sensitivity in all details of the interior, from the decoration of the vaults and the horse shoe arches with drip cap to the treatment of the light, based in narrow windows with internal embrasure and the four located to light the interior at two levels, producing a bigger sensation of depth to a space of such small proportions."

Photo: Anxo Galego