Palm tree column of Saint Baudilus.
by Weston Westmoreland
Title
Palm tree column of Saint Baudilus.
Artist
Weston Westmoreland
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Palm tree column of Saint Baudilus.
This little shrine is if not the most, one of the top most peculiar temples I have ever visited. Built in the middle of nowhere, a plain squarish structure on the outside, there is nothing I can relate it to on the inside. The arched gallery and the Palm tree shaped central pillar are next to unique.
A mixture of Christian and Muslim temple, the archade looks like the part of a mosque where believers set their praying matts. The rest of the nave, with its altar, is purely Christian.
The Hermitage of San Baudelio de Berlanga (Ermita de San Baudelio de Berlanga) is an early 11th-century church at Caltojar in the province of Soria. It is an example of Mozarabic architecture and was built in what was then the frontier between Islamic and Christian lands.
San Baudelio de Berlanga is a relatively plain building on the outside, being mostly square with a small, nearly square apse adjoining its east side. The interior, however, is very distinctive, and has been described as �The most Mohammedan church in the whole of Spain.�
The entrance to San Baudelio de Berlanga is a single horseshoe-arched door on the north wall of the building, which leads directly into the nave of the church. Upon entering the hermitage, visitors are greeted by a large circular pillar that rises to the vaults of the apse. From the top of the pillar project eight ribbed arches, which are supported at the four corners and middle of the walls of the church. These arches are horseshoe forms.
Similar to the palm tree, which symbolizes Saint Baudilus, it is not unlikely that this central column was designed by an architect to represent a palm tree, attribute of the Saint. Atop the pillar, in between the sprouting arches, is a small cavity, which is believed to be a place where treasures of the church or relics of its saint were once secured. The interior of this space is ribbed in Moorish style, with crisscrossing arches around a domed top.
Another unusual feature of San Baudelio de Berlanga is its gallery, which spans the interior side of the west wall. This tribune is constructed of a double row of horseshoe arches, which support a choir area on the second floor, accessible by the stairs on the south wall. Projecting into the nave, and supported by the tribune, is a small oratory, which sits directly against the nave�s central pillar. This small chapel is barrel vaulted, and has a window on either of its sides. It is no larger than a pulpit.
Elements of San Baudelio, like the double rows of pillars and arches, recall the stylistic elements of the Great Mosque of Cordoba. The ribbed arches and the method of construction in the lantern are all apparently derived from areas like Syria, Mesopotamia, and Armenia in the Near East. It is important to note though, that not all the oriental aesthetics that occur in Spanish churches were introduced by the Moors. Many had already been introduced to Spain during Visigothic times through its commercial and ecclesiastical connections with the Near East. The use of rectangular frames around arches and intersecting ribbed vaults at San Baudelio was originally inspired by the extension of the mosque of Cordoba.
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http://inspiringthoughtsandimages.com/
Weston Westmoreland
Uploaded
October 5th, 2016
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