Elmira College Spain 2013: Day 7: The Romanesque Experience!

We’ve already spent an entire week in Spain! It is going by so fast. The days have been filled with class, excursions, eating, and so much more! It seems like we’re all starting to feel pretty comfortable here, too! Today in class we learned about the beginning of the 20^th century in Spain in which its government changed from a Liberal Monarchy to a Dictatorship with a Monarchy, and then a Republic in only 30 years. It is a little bit confusing, but interesting, to learn about all of the different regime changes and different political parties that have existed throughout Spain’s contemporary history.

After class, some of the group went to a café for a snack before returning home for lunch and a siesta. We tried Dulce de Leche Crepes—very thin pancake-type desserts with a very sweet consistency in the middle. They were delicious!

Our group met back up around 4:30 at the aqueducts to begin our tour of the Romanesque churches of Segovia. We visited two very old churches constructed in the 12^th century! The first was La Iglesia de San Millán (San Millán Church). It is the biggest Roman-style church in Segovia. Here, we learned a lot about the characteristics of Roman architecture, which consists of arcos (arches), vidriera (stained glass), semicírculos (semicircular structures), torres (towers), techumbres (detailed ceilings), and capiteles (small carved figures near the ceiling). Since most people were illiterate at the time of its construction, there are many capiteles and paintings inside and outside of San Millán to communicate religious messages with all. Although Romanesque churches tend to have one main aisle (nave in Spanish) and one entrance at the back of the church, San Millán has three naves (aisles), as well as three doors in which one may enter. Thus, it is very unique to this style. It does follow the tradition in which the head of the Roman-style churches face the east where the sun rises, while the back faces the west were the sun sets. Thus, in the morning, upon entering the church from the back, its darker side, people may walk toward the front of the church to get closer to the “light of God.” This concept is enhanced even further because the church is shaped like a cross, where the entrance is at the foot of the cross and the main alter or head of the church is at the cross’ top. Thus, when people walk on the cross, from dark to light, it symbolizes the walk of life.

San Millán, like many other Romanesque churches contains an architectural style that symbolizes many different aspects of the religion. It was amazing to see the old statues of Christ and the Virgin Mary at the front of this church, and all of the other elaborate pieces inside, as well. We received a tour from a Don Miguel, a man with close ties to the church. He explained to us how San Martín has changed throughout the different centuries. The changes in architecture throughout its existence are extremely interesting and sometimes unbelievable! The techumbre (ceiling) of San Millán used to be an intricate, carved piece painted in red, blue and yellow, but after deteriorating over time, a wooden ceiling was put in its place. However, the church has saved many pieces of the old ceiling in hopes of restoring it someday.

Following San Millán we walked to La Iglesia de San Justo y Pastor (San Justo and Pastor Church), another very old Romanesque church built in the 12^th century. This church was a bit simpler than San Millán, but it contained a large, colorful mural in the mandrola (the quarter sphere at the front alter of the church), which depicts numerous stories and figures from the Bible. This mural was only discovered very recently after the church’s walls were scrubbed. Before its finding, San Justo was much less popular, as it was just a simple, old church. We enjoyed looking at the large mural and finding the stories and people we knew. The left wing inside the church looks extremely different from the rest. It is much more modern, as it was constructed much later than the 11^th century. This smaller church also contains an extremely old, mechanical-type carving of a life-size Christ with rotatable arms, so that it is able to move in many forms. It is known as the Santo Cristo de los Gascones. Overall, it was very interesting to see such an old church. The Romanesque style is very appealing. It will be interesting to compare it to the Gothic Style which we will be studying in a couple days!

After the Romanesque tour, we stopped by a small café near the aqueduct for some ice cream, smoothies, and hot drinks. Today was a nice, relaxed day full of learning in Segovia!