Repoblación art and architecture
The term "arte de repoblación" refers to the pre-romanesque churches built in the Christian kingdoms of northern Spain between the late 9th and early 11th centuries. This was a time when these kingdoms were growing stronger after the Muslim occupation.
These churches show a mix of different styles, including Visigothic, Asturian, Mozarabic, Carolingian, and even Andalusian Muslim influences. This mix of styles reflects the different cultures that were living together at that time. Within this period, we can see different groups of churches, like Mozarabic churches in the Kingdom of León or the Serrablo group, each with its own distinctive style.
In the 10th century, Muslim influences can be seen in many buildings in northern Spain, even religious ones. This is because these Christian kingdoms were neighbors to the powerful Muslim caliphate of Córdoba. However, the term "repoblación art" emphasizes that these churches were not always built by the small groups of Mozarabic people who moved to these areas from Muslim-controlled lands.
The term "repoblación art" includes some of the buildings that were previously called "Mozarabic" by scholars following the work of Manuel Gómez-Moreno. However, there is still some debate about this term, and many authors use "Mozarabic art" to describe this period.
In Spanish historiography, the Repoblación is the expansion of Christian settlement in the Duero basin and the Meseta Central in the 9th–10th centuries.
History
The religious influences were inevitable given the presence of the Islamic state of the Caliph of Córdoba, which was highly developed culturally, artistically and economically. However, it had long been suggested that the monumental buildings in northern Spain from this period were crafted by the modest groups of Mozarabic immigrants that settled in the areas of repopulation when the living conditions in Muslim al-Andalus became difficult to bear. As stated by professor Isidro Bango Torviso, suggesting that these immigrants were responsible for these buildings would be akin to suggesting that:The art and architecture of the Repoblación is identified as the third subset of the Hispanic Pre-Romanesque period, by the phases that correspond to the Visigothic art and architecture and Asturian architecture. Its architecture is a summary of elements of diverse extraction, irregularly distributed, in such a way that on occasion elements of paleo-Christian, Visigothic or Asturian origin come to predominate, while at other times Muslim characteristics come to the fore.
Characteristics
Some of the identifying characteristics of the Repoblación ecclesiastic architecture are:- Basilica or centralized plan; sometimes with opposing apses.
- Main chapel on a rectangular plan on the exterior and ultra-semicircular in the interior.
- Use of the horseshoe arch of Muslim derivation, somewhat more closed and sloped than the Visigothic.
- Generalized use of the horseshoe arch doorway or alfiz.
- Use of the twin and triple windows of Asturian tradition.
- Roofs composed of segmented vaults, including traditional barrel vaults.
- Grouped columns forming composite pillars, with Corinthian capitals decorated with stylized elements and cinctures joining the capital to the columns.
- Walls re-enforced by exterior buttresses.
- Evolution of rafter ornaments to great lobed offsets that support very pronounced eaves.
- Decoration similar to the Visigothic based on volutes, swastikas, and vegetable and animal themes forming projecting borders.
- A great command of the technique in construction, employing principally ashlar by length and width.
- Absence or sobriety of exterior decoration.
- Diversity in the floor plans, with small proportions and discontinuous spaces covered by cupolas.