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Monasteries
and PART ONE: I. The Scope of this Work. The publication of this work on the monasteries and convents in Galicia falls within a wider agreement on co-operation, drawn up between the Department of Culture, Social Communication and Tourism of the Galician Government and the University of La Coruña as a means of creating a graphic inventory and a planimetric survey of the monumental heritage of Galicia. As a result of this agreement two earlier works have been published: “Galician Cathedrals: An Illustrated Description” and “The Architecture of the Road to Santiago: An Illustrated Description of the French Road to Santiago in Galicia”. Within the wide-ranging Galician architectural heritage, the Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries, and the Franciscan and Dominican convents constitute two clearly differentiated groups, analogically related to the cathedrals. In the case of the monasteries, whose origin and initial period of splendour comes various centuries before the convents, apart from their generally extraordinary architectural worth, it is necessary to emphasize their co-ordinated civilizing influence and their role in promoting the economic development of the Galician countryside. This work had originally been intended to include only the 29 monasteries which had been officially declared to be of national interest, and which are therefore specifically included in the list of Assets of Cultural Interest in Galicia-1-. This would mean the inclusion of Santo Estevo de Chouzán, which does not conserve remains of the monastic settlement, but which, in the declaration is listed as a monastery, and San Domingos in Pontevedra, of which only some ruins remain, although, it must be said, these are extraordinary, and which figure in the declaration as “the Ruins of a Convent”. San Francisco in Orense has also been included because, although the declaration does not affect the whole convent, it does include the main parts: the cloister and the church, which are currently in different locations. The following monasteries and convents have also been included, even though the declaration only affects the church, because of the following basic considerations:
Finally, we have also included, because of their special relevance among collegiate churches, the ex–collegiate church of San Xoán de Caaveiro and the collegiate church of Santa María A Real do Sar, both in the province of La Coruña, and the ex–collegiate church of Santa María de Xunqueira de Ambía, in the province of Orense-2-. Many other monasteries and convents, affected by the declaration only in terms of their churches, have been reserved for future publications despite the fact that these are often of great importance. Some important monasteries and convents have also been left out of this work, despite being included in declarations of historical interest, but not, however, nor even their churches, having been specifically declared as monuments, such as San Paio de Antealtares, San Martín Pinario, Santa Clara, Santa María de Belvís and Santa María de Conxo, in Santiago, or the convent of Santa Clara in Allariz, which will also feature in future publications. In any case, the thirty-six monuments chosen include twelve Benedictine monasteries, 11 Cistercian monasteries, six Franciscan convents, four Dominican convents and three regular canonical houses. By provinces, eight are in the province of La Coruña, nine in Lugo, eleven in Orense and eight in Pontevedra. All of these have been, either partially or wholly, been declared to be monuments.
II. The Origins of Monastic Life: Saint Benedict’s Rule. Christian monastic life arose in the East. The foundation of the first monastery is attributed to Saint Pacomio in the year 323 in Tabenerra, in which the life of the monks was communal, in contrast to that of the first hermits or anchorites like Paul of Thebes and Anthony. The basic rules of monastic life were set out in 357 by Basil of Cesarea in his “Constitutions”, the origin of the three succeeding Benedictine vows. In the West, the first acknowledged monk was Martin, the first hermit of Ligugé in 361, who would later establish his monastery in Marmoutier. It was, however, Benedict of Nursia, son of a family of nobles, who was to be recognised as the founding father of monastic life, after his experience as a hermit in Subiaco. Not only did he found the monastic abbey of Montecassino in 529, but in 534 he drew up the Ruling which collected the three Benedictine vows: stability, or the vow to remain within the community, obedience to the Abbott elected by the Community as a sign of humility, and a change of habits, embracing poverty, chastity and renouncing the outside world-3-. In Galicia, following the Visigothic tradition, it would appear that the influence of Cluny was relatively weak. No documents exist which tell what rules were adopted on the foundation of the monasteries of the Early Middle Ages, and Spanish rules, like those of Saint Isidoro and Saint Fructuoso, followers of Saint Pacomio did not have as their objective complete observance-4-. The Council of Lérida (546) took as its basis the Councils of Agde y Orleans and in its canon number III limited the Monastery Rules to the discretion of the Abbott.”-5-. In any case, the development of the monastic system in Galicia has largely been attributed to Saint Martín Dumiense who, after his periods in the lands of the Gauls and in Rome is also said to have been responsible for the conversion of the Swabians. His work was continued by Saint Fructuoso in the mid 7th century who built new monasteries throughout Galicia, where not only were the rules followed in search of the spiritual perfection of monks and converts, but also a pure Christianity, purged of any reminiscences of paganism was spread throughout the common people. Above all, however, agriculture, cattle-rearing and the trades in general were developed, contributing to the re-population of the country as the monasteries were set up in areas which had hitherto been deserted and far from the rudimentary urban areas which existed at that time. Some authors claim that, after the discovery of the sepulchre of the Apostle and the removal of his remains to Compostela in the second half of the 9th century, many Visigothic monks fled to Galicia to escape the persecution of the Caliphate of Cordoba, and that this “filled the monasteries materially, up to the point that a kind of monastic passion seemed to take over the people: many small, agricultural communities were organised along monastic lines and great families founded their own family ”-6-. The only surviving example of one of these monasteries from the first era is the cave monastery San Pedro de Rocas, in the area of Esgos in the province of Orense. This is a unique monument, caved out of the rock whose origin may well lie as far back as the VI century. Monastic origins may also be claimed for the Pre–Romanesque chapel of the Salvador, dating from the 9th century and related to the monastery of Samos and the Mozarabic chapel of San Miguel, dated from the 10th century and situated in the garden of the Novices in the monastery of San Salvador of Celanova. In the year 817, Saint Benedict of Aniane unified the existing monasteries under the single Benedictine Ruling. The monastic ideal of the Abbey of Saint-Gall dates from the first third of the 9th century, and the foundation of the Benedictine Order at Cluny took place in 910, adopting and reforming the rule of Benedict of Aniane and encompassing under its rule more than a thousand monasteries in the whole of Europe which were more or less autonomous although they were nominally dependent.
III. Benedictine Architecture in the arly Middle Ages: The plan of Sankt-Gallen. The architectural model for the first Bendictine monasteries goes back to that of Montecassino, founded by Benedict himself around the year 529. Relatively soon after, the ideal model was established, presumably after a debate in a Council overseen by Charlemagne in Inden and Aquisgran in the years 816 and 817. One of those present, the Abbott Haito de Reichenan, sent a plan of this ideal model to his friend, the Abbott Gozbert, of the Swiss monastery of Sankt-Gallen, then in the Carolingian province of Alemanni, where it was stored in the library. This plan constitutes an extraordinary document, not just because it is the first drawing of a monastery which is preserved, but also because it is the oldest known architectural plan from the Early Middle Ages-7-. The plan of the monastery shows a small medieval city, religious and self-sufficient, organised around the abbatial church and its cloister, which at the same time constitutes its centre. It is oriented along an east-west longitudinal axis which points in the direction of the Holy Land, with the main access to the monastery situated on the west side of the church. To the south of this lies he cloister, consisting of a large square arcaded courtyard, in which the arcades are declining in the Egyptian or Mesopotamian style. To the east of the cloister is the monks’ dormitory, located above the “calefactorio” or hot work room, directly connected to the church to facilitate morning prayers, and to the bathroom and latrines situated in the south-east angle. To the south of the cloister, and opening out directly onto it, is the refectory for the monks, connected to the kitchen, situated in the south-west angle. Finally, closing the west side of the cloister, is the cellar with the pantry above it. Around this great central nucleus are the numerous complementary dependencies of the monastery, for the use of converts, travellers and other activities. At the side of the main entrance, in the south-west corner of the whole, the stables are situated, used for storing cattle, and in the north-east corner is the inn, reserved for the companions of the Lords visiting the monastery. Beside the inn, taking up the north side of the complex, is the brewery, bakery and kitchen for the guests, the visitors’ residence, the outside school and the abbey. To the east the whole hospital area is to be found, including in the north-west corner a small garden for medicinal plants as well as the Novices’ residence and two chapels, symmetrically situated with one connected to the hospital, build around a cloister, and the other connected to the Novices’ residence, also constructed around another cloister, symmetrical to the first. On the right of the Novices’ residence there is a cemetery, structured like a garden, and right in the south-east angle is the vegetable garden, the gardener’s residence, the stockyards and, the residence of the cattle minder. Finally, on the south side of the complex, is the silo, the workshops, the bakery, the brewery for the monks, the mill, the oven and other buildings. The compact nature of the buildings is possibly a result of the physical limits of the parchment, and the buildings would really have been situated further apart. The plans of Cluny II and Cluny III, however, considered as diagrams as far as the relationship between buildings is concerned, are very similar to those of Saint-Gall, showing a similarly compact nature on an irregular piece of land, as was aptly demonstrated by the reconstructions made by Kenneth Conant of the state of the monastery at its foundation in 910, around 1050 and in the period 1088-1130-8- respectively. The rules of Visigothic origin which governed these first monasteries is completed by the specific figure of the “pactum” or written promise between the aspiring member of the monastic community and the Abbott-9-, an original figure in the Hispanic kingdoms, especially in Galicia. These “pactum” persisted until the suppression of the Visigothic rites by the combined actions of Popes, kings and nobles, who, little by little, managed to impose the Roman rites in the peninsula. The last kingdom to accept the change was Castile , in 1078. In Galicia the consequent importance of the growth of the Order of Cluny, brought to Spain in 1025 by Sancho el Mayor of Navarra, is shown with little room for doubts by the appointment of Dalmacio, visitor to the Cluniac monasteries in Spain, as Archbishop of Compostela. Although it is true that at that time there only appeared to be four Benedictine monasteries in Galicia, the Benedictine rule immediately took over, bringing with it the “libertas romana”, that is, the independence of the religious and local political powers as the monasteries came to depend directly on Rome through Cluny. The most common architectural example followed by the Benedictine constructions of the age was that of the mother seat at Cluny which, as we have stated, followed the instructions drawn up by the Councils of Inden and Aquisgrán in 816-17, which figure in the plan of Sankt-Gallen. According to Kenneth Conant’s above mentioned reconstruction of Cluny III-10-, in the period between 1088-1130 the abbatial church was situated between the west-east axis, although in this case in a perimeter situation within the complex, something which would foreshadow the type of disposition used later in the Cistercian order. As in the case of Sankt-Gallen, the main access was situated on the western side, aligned with the main entrance to the church and constituted by a large narthex, almost a church itself, flanked by two towers. The huge church which would scandalise Bernard of Claraval so greatly because of its immensity and wealth measured about 187 metres. Also to the west of the complex the stables with the inn above were situated on the right hand side of the doorway. To the south of the church, and separated from the entrance area by a large courtyard, was the cloister, what was really, in fact, a t-shaped double cloister, connected directly through the door of Galilee with the vestry and at the end of the crossing with the church. In Galicia we can still admire many important examples of Romanesque architecture which we can label Benedictine as opposed to Cistercian. In the province of La Coruña, what was at first the Benedictine monastery of-11-, later to become that of the Regular Canons of Saint Augustine still preserves, although the roof has been lost, the small but proportioned12th century church. San Salvador de Bergondo still maintains the essential features of its Romanesque church, a wooden roof over pointed arches. Santa María A Real do Sar maintains, in spite of the incredible deformations which its structure has suffered, its12thII century church, with the central vault reformed in the15thV century along with the north wing of the cloister. Sobrado de los Monjes, as web as the funeral chapel of San Juan, preserves the large18th century chapter house and the kitchen. In the province of Lugo, the most important part of the church of San Esteban de Chouzán is its apse, dating from the second half of the 12th century. Santa María de Ferreira in Pallarés completely preserves its church, started at the beginning of the 12th century with a wooden roof with slightly pointed arches. The church of Santa María de Ferreira in Pantón is anterior to its incorporation in the Cistercian Order, as proved by the extraordinarily profuse decoration of its capitals, although its coffered ceiling, recently restored, has a clear Mudejar influence from the 16th or 17th century.. San Xulián de Samos, however, only preserves a Romanesque doorway, situated in the north-east angle of the Cloister of the Neirids. In the province of Orense the church of Xunqueira de Ambía is an almost unique example of 12th century Romanesque architecture, with a false triforium and a small round tower integrated into the façade. In the province of Pontevedra the Cistercian monastery of Acibeiro preserves its church, which predates its incorporation into the Cistercian order, with a false triforium similar to that of the church of Xunqueira de Ambía, although the primitive Romanesque facade has since been replaced by a simple doorway in the transitional neo-classical style. The Gothic church of San Francisco in Pontevedra, on the other hand has a 12th century proto-Gothic doorway incorporated into its facade. The impressive Romanesque remains, currently in the process of restoration, of the Benedictine monastery of San Lorenzo de Carboeiro, in Silleda, Pontevedra warrant a special mention.IV. The Cistercian Reform: Saint Bernard of Claraval. Once Cluny had been imposed, all new monastic reform came from within the Order itself, first by Robert of Molesme, who founded the Abbey which bears his name in Burgundy in 1075. After this, with the aid of Aubri and Steven Harding, the new community was installed in a marshy area between Nuits-Saint-Georges and the River Saona, where a new monastery was created with the intention of turning it into a Benedictine abbey which would strictly follow Saint Benedict’s Rule. In 1101-12-, the abbey was installed on a plain, which allowed for agricultural work and cattle-rearing. To this abbey, in 1112 or 1113 came the Knight, Bernard of Fontaine, who would later be known as Bernard of Claraval, because of the new monastery which would be entrusted to him. With La Ferté, Pontigny and Morimond, this was one of the four abbeys which constituted the basis for the new future and apparently irrepressible expansion of the renewed and extraordinarily austere Benedictine Rule. The monasteries were governed by a series of texts which outlined the new regulations: “The Letter of Charity and Unanimity”, which was approved by the first general chapter of the Order of Cluny in 1119 and which collected its statutes, and the “Exordium of Cister”, later to be expanded as the “Small Exordium” which reported the history of the foundation of the Cistercian Order, along with its religious customs, and which was approved by the Pope in his bull entitled “Ad hoc in apotilici”, which, in effect, constituted the act of the birth of the Cistercian Order. Among the special features of the Order were the financial autonomy of each abbey with respect to the other monasteries, including the founding “mother” institution, and the autonomy in the election of the Abbott, which was not in detriment to the control exercised by each abbot of the Cistercian Order over the subsidiary abbeys, which he visited every year. Another important characteristic was that the direct dependence on the Pope did not exclude the possibility of the intervention of the local bishop when necessary, a possibility which Cluny did not allow. Finally, another important characteristic of the Cistercian Order was its installation in areas far from the main centres of population, which would mean that in Galicia, in the words of Torres Queiruga, “there would be a benevolent influence through the colonization of unproductive and uninhabited places, in the planning of agricultural work, in the promotion of serfs to colonies of the numerous workers required for the farms created by the monasteries”-13-. The expansion of the Cistercian Order coincided with the political and religious importance reached by Bernard of Claraval between the years 1120 and 1153, with writings such as “Degrees of Humility and of Actino”, the “Apology of William”, which attacked Cluny and his series of eighty-six “Sermons on the Song of Songs”. With Bernard of Claraval, the Cistercian Order came under the dedication of the Virgin Mary, and the “Salve Regina” ended the daily activities of the abbeys, sublimating the profane love of the troubadours of the era. The peak of its power was the arbitration in the process caused by the double election of Pope, legitimating Innocence II against Anacleto II because of his spiritual qualities. After the failure of the second crusade, (1146-1151), also promoted by Bernard, the Order’s influence declined, although by this time the Cistercian Order possessed more than 350 abbeys, of which almost half depended on Claraval. A key institution in order to understand the reasons behind the rapid economic development and social acceptance of the Cistercian Order is that of the converts. Although these had already existed before, the Cistercian Order organised the obligations and rights of these servants, who in number at times were the double or the triple of the monks, under the supervision of one of the founding fathers, Steven Harding. Recruited from among the poorest peasants of the time, they underwent a one year period as a novice and took their vows, but were not allowed to learn how to read and write nor share the quarters with the monks, who were generally sons of noble families. Moreover, they were also under the direct control of the “cillerero” or steward of the monastery who worked as a sort of auxiliary abbot over the converts. The improvement in the economic situation which took place between the 12th and 14th centuries gave rise to several revolts in search of greater privileges which, in turn led to the practical disappearance of the institution of converts. Despite this, however, Cistercian architecture was understood as a whole and, as such, there was no distinction between the classes for which the buildings were destined, nor was there any difference between the categories of the activities carried out in the different parts of the monastery, which made it easier to reconvert the buildings built for the converts to other uses, such as accommodation for guests.V. Cistercian Architecture. Although it is true that the first constructions of a Cistercian monastery, when it was to be founded in a new place (other times an existing abbey was used and taken over by the Cistercians) were made of wood, this was a temporary measure before the suitability of the new location had been judged. If this location proved to be suitable, after at least twenty years had passed, the construction of the definitive abbey was started. Even up to the beginning of the 18th century, Claraval’s “Monasterium Vetus” was preserved in Champagne, as can be verified in Dom Milley’s perspectives dating from 1708-14-. Cistercian architecture shows the use of an original plan and a rigorous control of the construction, controlled by the general Chapter of the Order who debated the architectural plans with great thoroughness. The real architectural revolution which this supposed in its day was the consequence of the asceticism which was its guiding principle and which constituted the authentic spirit of the Cistercian Order, in contrast with the earlier opulence of Cluny. This asceticism did not detract from the constructive solidity of the buildings because the work was designed in order that it might last the maximum amount of time possible. It was more than anything else a rebellion against the ornamentation and the “superfluous” features and characteristics which were appearing in the Romanesque art of the period. The Rules outlined detailed questions such as the location, where the existence of a supply of water was essential, and the lonely nature of the place, usually a wood which was the metaphorical equivalent of the desert of the primitive hermits. “In the medieval west, the desert is a wood. The Cistercians thus converted it into their own Tebaida. There they could find “the great solitudes”, so important for the contemplative monks, and also a supply of wood, the basic material for the different trades”-15-. The triumph of the Cistercian Order coincided with the coming of age of Romanesque architecture, to which Claraval applied his ideals of asceticism. On the outer part the construction of towers was forbidden, and all that was allowed was a bell tower which could not rise above roof level, so the churches which were built were of harmonious proportions, without the dominating presence of towers. Capitals and details were simplified on the inside, improving the limpid space and volume under a natural illumination free of any obstacles. As Bernhard y Ulrike Laule state, “Space acquires the same appearance as the Rule of the Cistercian Order converted into stone”-16-. Key features of Cistercian architecture were the use of barrel vaults instead of wooden roofs. These vaults were sometimes half-pointed, or slightly pointed barrel vaults, and the perfection of the groin vaults, often supported by projections above the walls and pillars which helped to free space and which pre-dated Gothic art. As an added effect, probably found by empirical means, the acoustics of the temple were notably improved. As Spiro Kostof states, “We cannot expect to appreciate the devotional experience of these empty, severe churches without the limpid echoes of the chants of the antiphons which filled the space during so many hours of the day”-17-. Of all the first original Cistercian monasteries which Saint Bernard founded in Burgundy, only Fontenay retains its original appearance. Its layout has inspired the ideal plan of a Cistercian monastery by W. Braunfels, later used, more or les literally but without citation by other authors. The church of the typical monastery is liturgically oriented, that is, on an east-west axis and with the front facing towards the east, towards the light of the morning, a symbol of Christ. It was fashioned like a Latin cross, with the longer section composed of three naves of eight sections, preceded by a narthex. The smaller arm of the cross or transept was formed by a single nave of five sections, opening onto five apses. The central one was larger and rectangular, while the lateral apses were square. The chapels in which the monks held their private masses were situated in the lateral apses.-18-. The typical Cistercian church, such as the one at Fontenay fits into what was later denominated the “Bernardian plan” of churches with square church heads and regulated by a series of squares which bear allusion to the Citadel as represented in the Apocalypse. This is the ground plan which Villard de Honnecourt drew in illustration number 28 (fol. 14 v) of his Notebook, and to which he refers in the following words: “Here is a square plan church whose construction was planned by the Cistercian Order”-19-. In the northern part of the transept we can find the “door of the dead” which gave on to the cemetery of the monks. In the southern part can be found the vestry door and, adjoined to the western war the straight, wide matins stairway through which the monks communicated with the dormitory for the night-time services. The naves were separated by large square pillars with the adjoining semi-columns of schematic capitals on which both the arches and the fascias are supported, all of which are pointed. The arches defined the flat separation walls of the naves, crowned by a simple cornice which supports a pointed barrel vault, developed between rectangular sectioned fascia arches. The arches continued analogically with the transversal barrel vaults which covered the lateral naves, which were communicated the one to the other by a series of other, lower arches. The church was lit by half point or pointed windows situated in the front of the vaults in the lateral naves and at the front of the church head and the facade. The windows were formed according to Cistercian rules, which demanded clear glass and did not allow crosses or colours, by colourless leaden pieces forming simple geometrical or vegetable motives. The now white light reflected on the whitewashed walls and vaults accentuated the revolutionary simplicity of the architecture. The largest part of the space of the central nave was dedicated to the two choirs. The monks’ choir was situated in the part nearest to the front, and that of the converts was situated nearest to the door. Between these, clearly dividing both areas, were the pews for the sick and the high choir. Two doors at the ends of the nave of the Epistle joined the monks’ choir to the cloister, and the converts’ choir to an open corridor, with no windows, parallel to the western gallery of the cloister, but not communicated to it. At the front of the western façade there was a narthex, which in other churches was reduced to a simple porch. To the south of the church, with which it was directly communicated, was the cloister, also Romanesque, whose galleries were covered with elementary groin vaults with no type of nervures. As Schlosser states, “the monasteries preserved in an invariable form, right up until the end of the second great period of human history – the French Revolution – their most characteristic interior feature, the cloister, an ancient Hellenic and Oriental motif.”-20-. The Cistercians maintained this tradition, although they took from it the historical decorative features which had been so beloved by the Benedictines before them. The situation of the cloister in the abbeys would appear to have obeyed what we would now describe as bio-climatic considerations: in the places where the climate was cold it was situated to the south, as in Fontenay itself, and in general in Galicia, in order to make full use of the rays of the sun, and in warm climates it was situated to the north, in order to obtain the fresh shade from the church, given that the gallery which connected the cloister to the church was that which was most used by the monks. At the end of this gallery, in front of the vestry, was situated the armarium, a type of recess used to hold the liturgical books or for meditation and which, given its importance in certain abbeys, became an authentic library. The cloisters were of a square plan, between 25 metres long, like the one at Fontenay, and 35 metres in length, with arches which opened onto the yard, in the centre of which was a well and a lawn where the clothes the monks washed was put out to dry. The chapter house was situated opening onto the eastern gallery of the cloister, enabling the converts to participate in important events, with the abbot in its centre. Beside this was a stairway which gave access to the monks’ dormitories and latrines. Beside the stairway, and using its interior space, was the visiting room or auditorium where the prior spoke to the monks. Beyond this was the an area with access to the exterior, which led to the gardens, the herbarium, the vegetable gardens and the infirmary. Beyond this was the scriptorium or monks’ room, where they copied and patiently illuminated the manuscripts, and finally the novices’ quarters which was really part of the monks’ room. The monks’ dormitory was situated on the first floor of the same wing, with the monks’ latrine at the end which drained out onto a channel of the river, regulated by a dam. In the south wing, the calefactorium was situated, connected to the library, as was the monks’ refectory, which had a raised pulpit for the readings. Opposite the refectory was the lavatorium, a fountain situated in a pavilion in the yard opposite the gallery where the monks performed their ablutions before entering the dining room.-21-. The kitchen was communicated with the refectory by a turnstile, and it had its own corresponding larders, in turn communicated with the vegetable garden. Beside the kitchen was the converts’ visiting room, where they were attended by the cillerero, or head of converts, and where he guarded his documents. Neither the church nor the cloister of Claravel’s monastery remain, but the eastern wing of the cloister does remain, perpendicular to the church and composed of three naves in fourteen sections, for use of the converts. On the lower ground floor was the cellar and the converts’ refectory, separated by a private passage from the cloister. On the upper floor was the immense converts’ dormitory, approximately 80 metres long in Fontenay. At the end, over the same channel of the river used by the monks’ latrines, below the water level, were the converts’ latrines. W. Braunfels’ plan effectively redraws those of Fontenay and Claraval in order to establish the ideal Cistercian model, on which all the monasteries were more or less based. In the possessions of the abbey, however, another series of buildings which also made up the territory were drawn with the same architectural quality. These were the dovecot, the bakery, the mill, the barns, the smithy, the workshops of all types of artisans and the farms. Neither should we forget the guests’ pavilion, which would eventually be integrated into the monasteries around a new cloister, the cloister of accommodations. In Galicia there exist beautiful, more or less pure, examples of the Romanesque architecture of the Cistercian transition. Among the monasteries which belonged to the Order and which are detailed in this work, the first important examples worthy of mention are to be found in the province of Lugo. In Meira there is one of the best churches of the Cistercian Order in Galicia, whose plan corresponds to the “Bernardian plan”, with a magnificently preserved façade which even maintains the original 13th century iron fittings on the doorway. In the interior, special attention must be paid to the wide, sober pointed arches of the transition period, typical of the Cistercian Romanesque. In the province of Orense we can find another extraordinary Romanesque Cistercian church, that of San Clodio de Leiro, which also preserves its original facade, despite having lost the large rose window. Its interior space has, however, been radically changed. In the 15th century the great nave’s wooden roof and the pointed arches were substituted for ribbed vaults with five keystones which, despite their beauty, have detracted from the original sober aspect. In Melón, where one of the biggest abbatial churches of the Order, comparable with that of Oseira, was situated, all that remains is an impressive church head with a large ambulatory, the crossing and a single section of the great nave, dating back to the 13th century, but with later starred vaults from the 16th century. It also preserves, linked to the north side of the crossing, the chapel of Cristo de la Salud, from the same period as the crossing. In Montederramo all the Romanesque remains were believed to have been lost, but the latest restoration has revealed the existence of a beautiful window belonging to the primitive abbatial church, situated in the second section of the cloister In Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil various Romanesque features from the 12th and early 13 centuries are still preserved, such as, for example, the church, although this has lost its facade, the first section of the Bishops’ cloister and an altar, now on the north side of the crossing. It is worth noting that, although the original roofing was replaced by late ribbed vaults in the 16th century, the nave preserves the original pointed arches unlike, for example, the church at Meira. The abbatial church of Oseira preserves practically completely the interior of the Romanesque church dating from the 12th and 13th centuries, with large pointed ogival arches in the central nave which support barrel vaults, which are also pointed, typical of the Cistercian Order, and a noteworthy dome in the crossing, although the Romanesque façade was substituted for another of Herrerian inspiration in the 17th century. It also preserves the Romanesque funeral chapel of San Andrés, built, like the one at Melón, onto the northern side of the crossing. In Xunqueira de Espadañedo the original Cistercian church is preserved, with its wooden roof, but the Romanesque facade was replaced by a neo-classical facade in 1801 In the province of Pontevedra, Armenteira provides the third, and perhaps the best, example of a transition style Romanesque church typical of the Cistercian Order which has been completely preserved in Galicia. Dating from the second half of the 12th century, it is notable for its octagonal vault in the middle of the crossing, in the Mozarabic tradition, its pointed barrel vaults over ogival pointed arches and for its incredible facade, with a doorway with six archivolts crowned by a uniquely designed large rose window. The church of Santa María de Oia, with its similarly constructed sober interior is also exceptional, even though it has lost its original facade, which was substituted by a baroque facade in the 18th century.
VI. Abbot Suger and the Birth of the Gothic. The Mendicant Orders. The Gothic style arose as an expression of royal power in an abbey which was particularly protected by such power, that of St. Denis, thanks to the initiative taken by Abbot Suger. When the French Crown was virtually confined to the limited territory of L’Ile de France, Suger was as providential to its cause as Bernard of Claraval, his rival but, at the same time, “alter ego”, in the expansion of the Cistercian Order. In the words of Schlosser, “L’Ile de France was in fact the original home of that architectural dialect, the cradle of the opus francigenum which was the last and most elevated expression of the medieval soul, destined to last for many years in Europe and which would later be denominated “Gothic””-22-. Suger, born in 1081, combined his service as advisor, friend and even Regent to two Kings, Louis VI the Fat and Louis VII with his work on both the physical and spiritual reform of the Abbey of Saint-Denis, where he became abbot in 1122 and where he remained in that post until his death in 1151. Erwin Panofsky, who has written an extraordinary work on both the period and the man who came to be considered as the father of the French monarchy-23-, defines Suker’s behaviour very graphically. Suger had started the complete renovation of the Carolingian church with the construction of the narthex and the new main section (1140-1144)-24-, as if the President of the United States had ordered Frank Lloyd Wright to rebuild the White House. It is important to bear in mind that, at that time, the church had been consecrated by Jesus Christ himself. In any case, we know through his memoirs that he was fully conscious of the originality of his new constructions as opposed to the Carolingian structure. As Panofsky points out, interpreting Suger’s own words, “He felt, and he makes us feel, its spaciousness when he talks about his new chevet as being “made noble by the sheer beauty of its length and breadth”; he felt the sublime verticality when he describes the central nave of this chevet as “suddenly rising to the heavens” by means of the supporting columns, and the luminous transparency when he says that the church is “penetrated by the marvellous and uninterrupted light of its gleaming windows”-25-. He managed to achieve all this by using the features which would give rise to Gothic architecture: the pointed arch and the ribbed vault, presaged by the Cistercenses and the flying buttresses. The forces of the structure were rationalised and were now supported by the arches converted into nervures, freeing the walls and vaults from the heaviest weights and at the same time allowing the insertion of luminous, colourful windows, which contrasted vividly with the Cistercian asceticism. This new art form quickly spread, firstly throughout L’Ile de France as an architectural symbol of the newly rejuvenated royal power, then throughout France and, finally, to all corners of Europe, becoming personalised in diverse regional styles. In the words of Leonardo Benevolo, “The Gothic is precisely an international style which has unified, since the middle of the 12th century, the construction and finishing methods in building all over Europe”-26-. The Cistercians, in some ways their forefathers, also succumbed to the new style, but still maintained their principles of architectural sobriety, renouncing the characteristic slim steeples bristling with pinnacles, or the stained glass windows and the abundance of naturalistic sculptures which had already been anticipated at an earlier date by Maestro Mateo. In Galicia, where there existed a solid Romanesque tradition, the Gothic style developed as a logical form of evolution of the former, with the Proto-Gothic works of Maestro Mateo and the Cistercian monasteries being completed naturally in such important buildings as the cathedrals of Orense, Lugo and Mondoñedo and the monasteries of Oseira and Melón. In their monasteries the Cistercenses, as noted above, renounced the features which were perhaps most visually typical of the Gothic style, but they used the most essential features such as the ribbed vaults. In most Galician monasteries examples of Gothic art can be found, sometimes from a very late period. In the province of La Coruña monastery of San Salvador de Bergondo enlarged the church with the chapel of Santa Catalina, covering it with a ribbed vault in the 14th or early 15th century. In the province of Lugo, in Santo Estevo de Chouzán two naves were constructed-27- along with the northern doorway in 1314, and it still preserves remains paintings in the Gothic Spanish-Flemish style from the first tirad of the 16th century. Ferreira de Pallarés built the sepulchral chapel for the Count and Countess of Taboada. In Meira, in the southern wall of the church, the bases of the vaults of the Regular cloister still remain, dating back to the 16th century. Even more important are the cloister of the Nereids in San Xulián de Samos, the work of Pedro of Monforte, built in style between the years of 1562 and 1582, or the statio or Room of the Sign, with starred vaults similar to those of the cloister of the Nereids. In the province of Orense can be found the late ribbed vaults, from the 16th century, in the church and Regular cloister of San Clodio de Leiro. In Melón the ribbed vaults of the first sections of the Great chapel and the ambulatory stand out, as does the north branch of the crossing. The star-shaped vaults from the 16th century in the central section and on the southern branch of the crossing are also worthy of attention, as is the only surviving section of what must have been an extremely impressive great nave. In Montederramo the first section of the Regular cloister, dating from the 16th century is still preserved. In Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil the naves in the church are covered by 16th century ribbed vaults, from the same period as the star-shaped vault in the crossing. The ribbed vaults in the Bishops’ cloister are also fro the 16th century, although they were reconstructed in the 18th century. In this cloister the pinnacles and the coronation cresting in the second section are also worthy of attention. The chapter house or “Sala de las Palmeras” in Oseira provides an extraordinary example, unique in Galicia, of fan vaulting. This monastery also boasts the Gothic Cloister of the Pínchales which, like the chapter house dates from the 15th century. Xunqueira de Ambía preserves a late Gothic cloister from the 16th century, and a vestir and the chapel of La Merced, both of which have 16th century ribbed vaults. In the province of Pontevedra, Armenteira covers the galleries of its renaissance Regular cloister, or Cloister of the Processions, dating from the 16th century, with ribbed vaults, among which the star-shaped vault in the south-west angle stands out. In Oia and San Xoan de Poio the renaissance Regular cloisters also feature late ribbed vaults. In Galicia, however, Gothic art was implanted i the flourishing towns by means of a new way of perceiving the monastic vows, that of the Mendicant Orders, more particularly those of the Franciscans and the Dominicans. They arrived in Galicia in the 13th century, as tradition has it, through their own founding saints-28-, and developed their main convents mainly throughout the 14th and early 15th centuries. The convent temples of these Orders, although belatedly, reached a high level of importance among the citizens of the period as they became the privileged burial place for nobles and even for town worthies. As J. R. Soraluce states, “With such protectors, who seemed to guarantee them a sacred eternal rest, the temples of the Mendicant Orders acquired the importance and category which in other areas and regions corresponded to the Gothic cathedral”-29-. The most characteristic feature in an architectural sense is the church head, generally formed by three polygonal apses, with the exception of San Domingos in Pontevedra, with five, covered by a ribbed vault which some authors termed a fan vaulting-30-. On the outside, the thrust of the nervures is counteracted by buttresses from a clearly Romanesque tradition, instead of the flying buttresses characteristic of the Gothic style in the Ile de France. From the mixture of this solid Romanesque survival with the brightness of the openings, transformed by the transparent colours of the glass, mounted in slender window frames, is born the originality of the Galician Gothic language, which adapts the international language to the regional characteristics, without drastically breaking away from the traditional forms. In Galicia there are various examples of these convents. In the province of La Coruña, San Francisco de Betanzos completely preserves its church, which dates back to the middle of the 14th century. San Domingos de Bonaval preserves the church head and part of the chapels and the nave. In the province of Lugo, San Francisco de Lugo preserves the entire church, which was commenced in the 14th century and belatedly finished in the 16th, as web as an extraordinary Gothic cloister. San Francisco de Viveiro only preserves its church, dating from the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th centuries. In the province of Orense, San Francisco de Orense only preserves its facade and the church head of the church, now in the Square of San Lazaro, and the 14th century cloister, beside which can still be seen the original church walls, in their original location by the watchtower of Vista Alegre. San Domingos de Rivadavia preserves its church, dating from the end of the 13th or early 14th century, although the tp-end is posterior. In the province of Pontevedra, San Domingos de Pontevedra only retains its extraordinary main section with five ábsides, unique in Galicia and dating from the 14th century, and the archway from the lost chapter house, the destruction of which was interrupted by the Seizure of Mendizábal in 1835-31-. San Francisco de Pontevedra still preserves its church, from the 14th to 15th century, but not its main facade.
VII. From the Crisis of the Monastic System at the end of the Early Middle Ages to the Reforms in the Modern Period. Along with the rise of the Mendicant Orders a gradual decadence in the monasteries started to take place around the 14th century, produced by the successive rebellions and final desertion of the converts, while at the same time Galicia herself suffered severe economic, demographic – a third of the population of Europe died of the Black Death between 1347 and 1351 – and social crises, which would culminate in the unsuccessful rebellion of the “brotherhoods” (Irmandiños) against the church and the nobility. The main cause was, however, the Western Schism (1378-1417), and the slow deterioration and relaxation of monastic life which gave rise in Spain, as in other European countries, the need for reform of the monastic system which was channelled through the creation of two great Congregations. In the Modern Period, the Catholic Monarchs embarked upon a systematic policy of controlling the Galician institutions and nobility, creating the Royal Galician Audience and nominating many different types of public offices, such as the mayors of towns and cities. This control also extended to the monasteries which were usually in the often none too scrupulous hands of abbots, appointed through Papal Bulls and Briefs by the Congregations of San Benito el Real in Valladolid, belonging to the Benedictines, and the General Congregation of Castile which belonged to the Cistercians, both of which were situated in Valladolid. These Congregations would nominate, at least during the first centuries, all the Galician abbots from their seats in. The first of these to be founded was the Congregation of San Benito el Real in Valladolid, under the patronage of King Juan I, with the aim of going back to the strict observance of the rules of Cluny. This was supported by various Papal Bulls, and very often opposed by the abbots and the monks themselves. In any case, in 1493 this was joined by San Martín Pinario in 1493, in 1505 by Samos, in 1506 by Celanova and Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil, in 1518 by San Salvador de Lourenzá, as late as 1540 by San Salvador de Lérez, and finally, among others, by San Xoan de Poio in 1547. A total of nine major monasteries were incorporated into Congregation, along with many others of lesser importance, reaching a total number of 58, which came to be known as priories.-32-. Along with this process of concentration of the masculine monasteries came the parallel unification of the female institutions in the single Gallician monastery, San Paio de Antealtares, which produced the ruin of many small monasteries in Galicia, which have only been able to preserve, in the words of Sa Bravo, “the churches which belonged to the dissolved nuns’ convents which offer a marvellous collection of small Romanesque temples of all varied types”-33-. Despite the difficulties of co-ordinating a national Congregation, with the many functional problems and the exploitation of Galician monasteries by the monks in Valladolid, this takeover meant the start of a new period of prosperity enjoyed by the Benedictines in Galicia which lasted until the dissolution and subsequent disappearance of the Congregation. Although the Cistercian tradition was much more highly centralised than that of the Benedictines, through the French practice of holding an annual meeting of the General Chapter, the Pope obliged the monasteries to become organized into national Chapters-34-. As a result of this, the second great Monastic Congregation arose in Spain, with the aim of carrying out reforms and of returning to a strict observance of the rules of the Cistercian Order. Thus the Congregation of Castile was founded after the creation of the monastery of Monte Sion by Friar Mari de Vargas, from the monastery of Piedra, in Zaragoza. With great difficulties the annexation of the Galician monasteries was achieved, although in 1498 t managed to incorporate nothing less than the monastery of Sobrado de los Monjes. In 1505 the monasteries of Acibeiro and Penamaior were incorporated, n 1506 Monfero and Melón, in 1515 Meira, in 1518 Montederramo. Eighteen years were to pass before the incorporation of San Clodio and Armenteira in 1536, and nine more before that of Oseira in 1845. The last monasteries to join were Xunqueira de Espadañedo en 1546 and Oia in 1547. In a similar fashion to what had happened to the Benedictines and the Congregation of San Benito el Real in Valladolid, when the Cistercenses joined the Congregation of Castile this completely revitalised their monastic life and produced a new flourishing in the studies of the Arts and Philosophy as web as, in many cases, an important architectural renewal in the successive styles which were developed as of the Modern Period. The reform which was brought about by joining together led, in most cases – the small monasteries were concentrated or became priories depending on larger monasteries – to a new period of economic bonanza which was to be seen in new constructions which brought about, often without any apparent reason, the destruction or substantial modification of the huge medieval factories. Although the excuse given was a supposed state of ruin, the underlying motive was the desire to build in the manner of the new stylistic models coming out of Italy , which penetrated much more quickly into Spain than into other countries such as England, where the Gothic style would last until 1600 in the cities and various centuries longer in the country, where it nearly linked up with the Neo-Gothic. In Galicia, in the same way as the Romanesque mixed with the Gothic in such a way as to create a specific variant which was expressed, as mentioned above, in the heads of the churches belonging to the Mendicant Orders, where the star-shaped and ribbed vaults of the Gothic style survived, covering more often than not, the galleries of the new Renaissance style cloisters. In compensation, however, the Renaissance style lived on side by side with the baroque, making it difficult at times to differentiate between both styles, which led to the term “classicistic” to be applied to a late Renaissance style which was to develop in the age of the baroque-35-, especially in Galicia. Inside the medieval churches which still survived, probably because of the lack of economic means to renovate them, new parts such vestries and chapels were added on, built in the new Renaissance style but often with surviving Gothic features such as the vaults which covered them. A characteristic feature of the 16th century, almost the identification mark of the incorporation into the Congregation of Castile, was the substitution of the lower choir, situated in the centre of the church, for a new high choir at the end of the church. One of the best examples can be seen in the church of Oia, where the new high choir is raised over an extraordinary lowered star-shaped vault which is perfectly integrated within the Romanesque interior of the church. In the province of La Coruña, the convent of San Francisco in Betanzos had a Renaissance chapel built onto the south west side of the great nave in the 16th century. Another convent, San Domingos de Bonaval, had the chapel of San Jacinto, the work of Gaspar of Arce, built in 1615, with an outstanding boxed dome. San Lorenzo de Trasouto is a special case because in its church we can find a 16th century High Altar made of Carrara marble, originally fro San Francisco in Seville, but which was brought to its present location in Santiago in 1882. In Santa María de Sobrado de los Monjes the vestry was built between the years 1569 and 1572 and is reputed to have been the work of Juan de Herrera. In Sobrado there are also 16th century pews which were installed in 1974 and which came from Santiago Catedral. In the province of Lugo, the lower part of the 17th century cloister of Ferreira de Pallarés is also in the Renaissance style. Some 16th century arcades are preserved in the cloister of the Hospedería of Meira and the cloister of Ferreira in Pantón. In San Xulián de Samos the upper levels of the Gothic Nereides cloister, dating from 1709 to 1713 are more classicistic. The cloisters of Nosa Señora de Valdeflores, dating from 1699-1700, and of San Francisco de Viveiro, from the 17th century are also classicistic. In the province of Orense, San Salvador de Celanova, built between 1550 and 1594, in the Renaissance style, boasts the Old cloister, or cloister of the Processions, the work of Juan of Badajoz had a fountain now situated in the Main Square, in front of the facade of the church. The New or Poleiro cloister, dating from the late 17th and early 18th century can also be considered classicist. In San Clodio de Leiro, despite its Gothic vaults, the 16th century cloister of Processions is also in the Renaissance style. In Melón all that survive are the remains of the 16th century cloister of Processions attributed to Bartolomé de la Hermosa, but the beautiful entrance to the complex still remains. The church of Santa María de Montederramo is one of the few examples of clearly Renaissance style churches, with Herrerian influences, built by Pedro de la Sierra between 1568 and 1607. The façade of the monastery, in a state of great deterioration, the second section of the Regular cloister, dating from the 16th century and the Porteria cloister, with Herreian influences are also works in the Renaissance style. In Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil the Great cloister, or cloister of the Porteria, possibly re-built in the 18th century and the Small cloister, both build by Diego de Isla are also Renaissance in style. The convent of San Francisco in Orense added the chapel of the Venerable Third Order in the 6th century. This is situated at a perpendicular to the axis of the church. Two doorways were also added in the 16th century, both of which have now been turned into windows, in the south wing of the Gothic cloister. The monastery of Oseira, despite having ribbed vaults, added the cloister of Pínchales in the 16th century. In Xunqueira de Espadañedo the building of the Regular cloister was started in the second half of the 16th century and this was completed a century later. Of this all that survive are the north and east wings. Only four arches remain in the cloister of Hospederia, also built in the Renaissance style. In the province of Pontevedra, the lower floor of the Regular cloister at Armenteira was built between the 16th and 18th centuries, with late Gothic vaults. In Oia the second section of the vestry, the chapter house and the cloister of Procesions are all in the Renaissance style, the work of Pedro del Campo in the 16th century. The Main Altarpiece in the church wa constructed in the Mannerist style. The church of San Xoan de Poio was built between the 16th and 18th centuries and mixes Renaissance with baroque features. The cloister of Processions and the central fountain date from the 16th century. The convent of San Francisco in Pontevedra added the chapel of the Anunciación in 1590. In San Salvador de Lérez the nave of the church, the chapel of San Benito and the south wing, the only one which survives, of the Regular cloister, can all be considered to be Renaissance in style.
VIII. The Council of Trent and the Splendour of Gothic Art in Galicia. The Council of Trent, held in two stages, 1545-1549 and 1551-1563, brought about the re-organisation of the Catholic Church in the wake of the rise of the protestant movement in all of Europe. The Company of Jesus became the spearhead of the renovation movement, and this quickly reached architectural styles. Starting with the initial boost given by the genius Michelangelo in his project for the Basilica of Saint Peter’s, in the first third of the 17th century the new “Jesuit style” was developed as a reaction to the classicist puritan spirit of the protestants, exemplified in the works of Giacomo della Porta and Domenico Fontana, who constructed the dome projected by Michelangelo, and by Carlo Maderno, who took over work on the interior of the Basilica between 1607 and 1629. This Counter Reformation art became popular throughout Catholic Europe, so its great success in Spain is not surprising, especially taking into account that the Spanish sensibility had already been prepared by the decorative precision of a genuinely Spanish style, the Plateresque, in which the Mudejar, Gothic and Renaissance traditions were united. In Galicia, the splendour of the baroque coincided with the introduction of the cultivation of corn and a substantial rise in the population, but most particularly with the recovery of its own personality as a people. baroque and Enlightenment architecture united, producing a flourishing of a new cultural identity-36- which linked itself to the still unforgotten Romanesque, turning the baroque style, once again, into a new Galician national style. In the country areas of Galicia the monasteries retained their autonomous rights with regards to the use of their land, along with the nobility. As a consequence of this, two characteristic images of rural Galicia arose: the renovation of the monasteries and the new “pazos”, or manor houses, which were the homes of the nobility but were also agricultural exploitations run by the secondary branches of the Galician noble houses. It is impossible in Galicia, however, to draw a clear distinction between what we might call Renaissance and what might be considered baroque, especially in religious architecture. Often it is difficult to separate features within one piece of work, which might have been started in the 16th century and finished in the 18th century without any apparent break in continuity. We shall, therefore, talk about classicist baroque, and it can be said, for example, that the façade of the church of the monastery of Poio, built between the 17th and 18th centuries, is classicist, but its towers are totally baroque. As García Iglesias states, “Galician baroque should be intimately embraced, therefore, in a discourse of an entire History which goes beyond stylistic chronologies. The baroque style is often involved in buildings which already existed, giving them a whole new nuance...”-37-. Huge baroque factories arose throughout Galicia. At times monumental transformations were produced which practically destroyed the primitive medieval factories, such as in the case of Santa María de Monfero, in which the extraordinary classicist church was completed in 1656 before the complete renovation of the factory of the convent. Such is also the case of San Salvador de Lourenzá, where Fernando de Casas y Novoa anticipated, in his unfinished façade, that of the Obradoiro in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. The convent of Salvador was also renovated from the facade of the monastery to the cloister in the classicist style. In other cases the medieval cloisters were respected either fully or partially, but the churches were completely re-built, as in the case of Sobrado de los Monjes, where the Regular cloister, of Renaissance origin, was also tampered with, and in Samos, where the Great or Feijoo cloister and the upper level of the cloister of the Nereides were built in classicist style. In San Salvador de Celanova a “Proto-Baroque” church was begun in 1648, according to Ángel del Castillo, which could be defined as being between Herrerian and baroque. The Major altarpiece, dating from the 18th century, completes the architecture of the apse, completely integrating it within the baroque decoration of the whole. The upper floor of the Old or Processional cloister was built in the Compostelan style of panels. Very often the medieval naves and head sections of the churches were maintained, and only the main or western facade of the churches, and often of the convents, were re-modelled in the baroque style. In this way the façade of the church of San Domingos de Bonaval was constructed, which with its tower forms a body which fronts the primitive Gothic facade. In this baroque restructuring, dic also affected the cloister and the facade of the convent, one particular, but no less important feature stands out, the trihelicoidal stairway which drew its inspiration from one of Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings. In Oseira the Romanesque nave and head of the church were also retained, integrating naturally with the new baroque facade of Herrerian inspiration, built in the 17th century. In the interior too, baroque reliefs were made on the scallops on the domes of the crossing and on the stone altarpieces in the apse chapels which give onto the ambulatory. In the 18th century the cloisters of Hospederia and the Medallones were also built, as was the facade of the monastery with a churrigueresque doorway. In Oia the naves and head of the church were also preserved, but in 1740 a new facade was built, as was the bell-tower, and, less importantly, the southern doorway to the monastery. San Xoan de Poio, which had started to replace its medieval church for a Renaissance church in the 16th century, with a churrigueresque High Altar from the 17th century, continued the work in the new baroque style which almost completely covered the classicist main facade. The towers are now clearly baroque, as is the orange tree or Crucero cloister, built in the 18th century. Something similar happened in San Salvador de Lérez, in which the nave of the church and the cloister are in the Renaissance style and the facade of the church is classicist, but the towers and the Great Altarpiece in the interior are baroque. Many other monasteries and convents, the vast majority, in fact, would join, every one according to its financial limitations, this trend towards the baroque which was such a close reminder of the first style to take root in Galicia, the baroque. In the province of La Coruña, at the monastery of Santa María de Caaveiro the entrance archway and the bell tower were built in the form of a graceful watchtower overlooking the free flowing waters of the River Eume. In Santiago de Compostela, San Lorenzo de Trasouto would renovate part of the nave and head of the church, along with the vestry, the southern doorway and the cloister. In Santa María do Sar three wings of the cloister and the Priory doorway were added in 1755. In the province of Lugo, in Ferreira de Pallarés a slender bell tower was built. In San Francisco in Lugo, the chapel of the Venerable Third Order was built onto the southern side of the church. In Nosa Señora de Valdeflores, in Viveiro, the bell tower was built. In the province of Orense, a simple Priory would be constructed at San Pedro de Rocas. The most remarkable feature of this was the corner solution given to the balconies. At San Clodio de Leiro, the Romanesque church would remain virtually intact, but in the 17th century a new Regular cloister in the classicist style was added, although it did have late Gothic vaults, and a new facade was built on to the monastery. At Melón the facade of the funeral chapel of l Cristo de la Salud was reformed in the classicist style. The doorways at the ends of the crossing in the church at Montederramo were also classicist, revealing a curious combination of sculptured and painted features. curiosa Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil built a new doorway to the monastery in 1726, and new features were added to the primitive Romanesque facade, most notably the bell towers. The convent of San Francisco in Orense had a new classicist cloister, the New cloister, added in 1738. In another convent, San Domingos de Rivadavia, the tower was reconstructed in the baroque style in the 18th century and the chapel of the Virgin of the Portal was built in the place of the old convent, and a new classicist cloister was built, of which only two wings still survive. In Xunqueira de Ambía a sturdy bell tower was built, and the church was decorated with a baroque organ casing and various baroque altarpieces, some of which were rococo. In Xunqueira de Espadañedo the facade of the monastery was built in the new style as was the stairway which gave access to the church, which would finally be finished in a neo-classical style. In the province of Pontevedra, at Santa María de Acibeiro a baroque High Altar was installed in the 18th century. Santa María de Armenteira would retain its extraordinary Cistercian Romanesque church, but a new facade was added to the monastery. In the convent of San Francisco in Pontevedra, the Chapel of the Concepción and the Misericordia were integrated into the Gothic nave of the church in 1677, and the flamboyant funeral chapel of Juan de Castillo was erected in 1682. Its baroque period was completed by the construction of the church tower and a simple classicist cloister in the 18th century.IX. From the late 18th century, with the rise of the neoclassical style, to the crisis in Monastic life in Spain. The current situation. Although the first signs
of Neoclassicism were seen in England at such an early date as 1616,
with the Indigo Jones’s Queen’s House at Greenwich, starting
the style which would become known as English Classic, it wasn’t
until 1730 that the second and authentic wave of Neoclassicism, the
Classical Revival, would begin, and which would last until approximately
1850 Galicia, for the first time in many centuries, became a Kingdom once again, which in 1808 organized a Supreme Government which co-ordinated the local and provincial Governments in the struggle against the French invasion. As Xosé R. Barreiro Fernández states, “the Kingdom of Galicia organized the defence against the French, found its own means, sent ambassadors to England, started its own army and enforced taxes. It behaved like a Kingdom.”-38- Despite this, however, the minority Galician liberal movement eventually succumbed to the absolutist and clerical sectors, with the coup of Fernando VII in 1814, although these sectors had already won all the Parliamentary seats for Galicia in the 1813 elections. Marshal Díaz Porlier, a heroic warrior during the Peninsular War, rose up in La Coruña in 1815, but was executed after being betrayed by his own troops who had been bribed by the Chapter of Compostela, in charge of the absolutist forces. When the Liberal regime won in Madrid, the absolutist opposition in Galicia was complete, and an Apostolic Government was constituted, led by the church. Military uprisings and the Carlist Wars followed which, like the Peninsular War caused great effects in Galicia and which did not leave the monasteries and convents untouched, many of these being raided, set on fire or used as quarters for troops. The work started by the religious orders continued, despite the logical interruptions, and so the stylistic revolution reflected in their buildings did not end with the baroque. In many cases we can find interesting examples of neoclassical art, or, at least, a baroque style, clearly classicist in influence which was in the line of the new period, in the monasteries and convents of Galicia. In the province of La Coruña, in the monastery of Monfero the eastern cloister was renovated in 1806 and, the next year the dome, which had been destroyed by a fire in 1803, was rebuilt. The neoclassical facade of the monastery of Sobrado de los Monjes was built in 1827, although the Great Altarpiece, built in 1770 following a design by Luis de Lorenzana, was already early neoclassical-39-. The cloister of Hospederia was rebuilt between 1824 and 1825. In the province of Lugo, Ventura Rodríguez outlined the High Altarpiece at San Salvador de Lourenzá, completed in 1789. The High Altarpiece at Santa María de Pantón also dates from the 18th century, with a central theme of the Assumption of the Virgin. In San Xulián de Samos the High altarpiece was created at the end of the 18th century, and between the end of the 18th and beginnings of the next century the vestry was built. In the province of Orense, in the cave monastery of San Pedro de Rocas, the facade of the “new church” was re-built, in a transversal relation to the cave monastery. In Oseira the magnificent “Librería”, recently re-constructed, was built, as were various stone altarpieces whose “forms refer stylistically to a moment of transition, in which the neoclassical lines had to share a space with the a whole rococo lexis applied particularly in decoration.”-40-. In Xunqueira de Espadañedo a new facade was added to the church in 1801. In the province of Pontevedra the doorway at Acibeiro, originally dating from the 16th century, was re-constructed in the transition style. The refectory was also renovated. In Armenteira the higher floor of the cloister and the tower were built between 1777 and 1779. Inside the Romanesque church a semi-circular baldachin was built to fit into the shape of the central apse, with granite altarpieces added on to the sides. Two altarpieces were also built in the lateral apses. As the 19th century continued, however, the political situation became more and more unstable, a fact which was made worse by a great economic crisis, with the pressure of the religious levies on the people. The contrast between the riches of the church was placed in even starker contrast with the poverty not just of the ordinary people, but of the State itself. The process of confiscation of the church’s goods began slowly. In 1766 Charles III decreed the expulsion of the Company of Jesus. Charles IV disposed of a series of possessions belonging to the church in 1798, including hospitals, inns, brotherhoods etc., which was followed in 1805 when the Pope, Pio VII authorized more confiscations. Napoleon I ordered a drastic reduction in the size of convents, decreasing their numbers by a third, and Jose Bonaparte ordered their total disappearance, finalising to a certain extent the process which had begun in the Peninsular War. The Courts of Cadiz decreed the first confiscation laws in 1813, all of which were revoked by Ferdinand VII on the restoration of the absolutist monarchy, but a series of decisions were taken over the confiscated goods. After his death in 1833, however, in the short period of five months between September 1835 and May 1836, Mendizábal’s government passed the first laws of Dissolution and Confiscation, whose aim was to rid the country of all religious orders-41- so that the State could take over their possessions. Unfortunately, however, the Dissolution and Confiscation did little to improve the lot of the Galician people, especially those who worked for the monasteries in the rural areas. Rather it benefited a wealthy few, who continued to exploit the peasantry despite the laws of Confiscation. What in fact occurred was the systematic destruction of a heritage which had been gathered over centuries. This heritage was not only architectural, but also included paintings, sculptures and cultural treasures with the disappearance of archives and whole libraries with manuscripts and incunabulum of an incalculable value. From an architectural point of view, virtually all that was saved were the churches of the monasteries, the convents and the houses belonging to the Regular Canons, which in general were turned into parish churches. All the rest, including the cloisters, was sold as simple material for construction, even being used to pave the streets, as is the case of Sobrado de los Monjes. At this point of time there is a slow but continuous process of recovery of the monasteries and convents of Galicia, clearly supported by the autonomous administration. In some cases the monasteries have been restored or renovated for use as museums. This is the case of monasteries such as San Domingos de Bonaval, which now hosts the “Museo del Pueblo Gallego” (Galician People’s Museum), Santa María do Sar, now a museum of religious art, or the ruins of San Domingos in Pontevedra, now use as part of the city’s museum.. In others there is still a link with activities related to public administration, in whose power they have been since their Confiscation. Such is the case of San Salvador de Lourenzá, Meira, San Salvador de Celanova-42- and Xunqueira de Espadañedo, respectively the homes of the municipal governments of Vilanova de Lourenzá, Meira, Celanova and Xunqueira de Espadañedo. In the main part of the highly remodelled convent of San Francisco in Pontevedra, the provincial Revenue services are located, and in the convent of San Domingos in Ribadavia, an old folk’s residence was built. In the cloister of San Francisco in Orense, also completely refurbished, barracks were built which have now been practically abandoned.-43-. San Pedro de Rocas, not now used for worship, and a magnificent example of a cave church excavated from the rock now depends upon the Bishop of Orense-44-. Some monasteries and convents are still in the hands of private citizens. San Lorenzo de Trasoutohas been converted into a manor house-45-, but others are in a sorry state. Such is the case of Melón or Montederramo. Often, in cases such as that of the masculine Benedictine monasteries of Samos and San Xoan de Poio, the masculine Cistercian monasteries of Sobrado de los Monjes and Oseira, and the Cistercia feminine convents of Ferreira de Pantón and Armenteira, retain large or small hostals, re-applying the tradition of hospitality, and which are run by the very monks and nuns who have come back to live, in a much smaller number than before, their historical buildings. Other uninhabited monasteries have been turned into modern hotels, or projects exist for such transformation, such as, for example, San Clodio de Leiro, Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil, Acibeiro or Oia. In others the monastic life is still exclusively maintained, sometimes by Orders which differ from their original founding Orders, like San Francisco in Betanzos, in a Neo-Gothic building dating from 1914 built after the Dissolution, Nosa Señora de Valdeflores, Xunqueira de Ambía and San Francisco in Pontevedra-46-. Some, such as Caaveiro, Monfero and San Lorenzo de Carboeiro, whose churches are no longer used for worship, offer impressive uninhabited ruins amidst solitary landscapes, awaiting total renovation which is all too slow in arriving. The convent of San Francisco in Viveiro and the monastery of Ferreira de Pallarés, both of which retain their churches, open for parish worship, are also waiting for reconstruction or rehabilitation. Finally, the old feminine monastery of Santo Estevo de Chouzán, has, except for the church, disappeared beneath the waters of the reservoir Os Peares, and is thus unable to be recovered, and San Salvador de Lérez has been reduced almost entirely to a parish church, without any reasonable possibilities of reconstruction.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20 Julius von Schlosser,
“El arte de la Edad Media”, Barcelona, 1981. p. 40.   |
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