Puente le Reina ‘German Church’

[Hurry Krishna]

I think most of you will remember the unusually stark Iglesia del Crucifijo. This is a link to a picture of the doorway Does anyone know what this king of structure is called? Or how would you describe this architectural style? Thanks

 

[Kathor1]

Does anyone know what this kin[d] of structure is called? Or how would you describe this architectural style?

Erm ... I would call it a Romanesque portal.

 

[Roland49]

Yip, it's called romanesque or roman style.
The oldest parts of this church dated back to the 11th Century.

 

[mspath]

The Church of the Crucifijo and across the pathway named, Le Calle del Crucifijo, the related convent/school and albergue now run by the Padres Reparadores have been most important in the long history of Puente La Reina. Read more here in Spanish or English

Organiza tu viaje | Visit Navarra - Web Oficial de Turismo de Navarra

¿Una semana, un puente de tres días, un par de días o solo estás de paso? Te hemos organizado tu viaje a Navarra antes de venir: ¿de cuánto tiempo dispones?}

www.turismo.navarra.es

 

[SYates]

Read more here in Spanish or English
https://www.turismo.navarra.es/esp/organice-viaje/recurso/Patrimonio/3113/Iglesia-del-Crucifijo.htm

Hi @mspath

Your link had a formatting problem, I corrected it in the quote ;-)

BC SY

 

[SYates]

Yip, it's called romanesque or roman style.
The oldest parts of this church dated back to the 11th Century.

Sorry for hair-splitting @Roland49 but only Romanesque is correct, 'Roman style' would be used to describe much earlier buildings from the time of the Roman Empire ...

BC SY

 

[Richard Ray]

I think most of you will remember the unusually stark Iglesia del Crucifijo. This is a link to a picture of the doorway View attachment 66805 Does anyone know what this king of structure is called? Or how would you describe this architectural style? Thanks

I believe the arched structure over the doors are called "archivolts."

 

[Kathor1]

only Romanesque is correct, 'Roman style' would be used to describe much earlier buildings from the time of the Roman Empire ...

And it's perhaps useful to mention in this context the Spanish terms:

• Romano - related to Roman art and Roman buildings. In Spain, from about 200 BC until about 400 AC.
• Románico - related to Romanesque art and Romanesque buildings. In Christian Spain, roughly during the period 1050-1250.

Roman bridges and Romanesque bridges are frequently confused with each other; they can look quite similar.

 

[Roland49]

Sorry for hair-splitting @Roland49 but only Romanesque is correct, 'Roman style' would be used to describe much earlier buildings from the time of the Roman Empire ...

BC SY

Thanks for clarifying and sorting it out.

No hair-splitting for me. After a quick research I do know now where to draw the line between romanesque and roman.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

I believe the arched structure over the doors are called "archivolts."

Arquivoltas in Spanish. Most, if not all, that I have seen in Spain are recessed one within another rather than lying all within the same plane.

Romanesque architecture in Spain - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The old monastery of San Juan de la Pena has mixed architecture going back to romaneque. Here are pictures of three types of arches found there. The romaneque semi- circular, the mozarabic horseshoe shaped arch and a gothic style pointed arch.

 

[Kathor1]

The Romanesque style:

 

[Former member 69452]

I think most of you will remember the unusually stark Iglesia del Crucifijo. This is a link to a picture of the doorway View attachment 66805 Does anyone know what this king of structure is called? Or how would you describe this architectural style? Thanks

This may help you. This archway is definitely a Gothic style of architecture because of the pointed arch. Romanesque features rounded arches. https://www.thoughtco.com/architecture-timeline-historic-periods-styles-175996

 

[VNwalking]

Erm ... I would call it a Romanesque portal.

Huh...really?
It looks awful Gothic to me. Unless the pointy arch is a hallucination and it's actually rounded. But @Kathar1na, you're generally right about such things. What am I missing?

 

[Kathor1]

It looks awful Gothic to me. Unless the pointy arch is a hallucination and it's actually rounded. But @Kathar1na, you're generally right about such things. What am I missing?

I can't give you a proper explanation other than that it is not Gothic but Romanesque and I didn't even read up on this particular church . The pointy arch alone doesn't make it Gothic. Also, the transition from Romanesque to Gothic didn't work in the same way everywhere (and obviously not at the same time everywhere). We are talking about Spain here and not the North of France. All I can offer right now is a copy-paste extract (see below) from an Arteguias course about Romanesque art in Spain; it shows a Romanesque portal of a church in Palencia as an example. I should have something more detailed about pointed arches and Romanesque churches in Spain but it's somewhere in a backup file ...

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

I can't give you a proper explanation other than that it is not Gothic but Romanesque and I didn't even read up on this particular church . The pointy arch alone doesn't make it Gothic. Also, the transition from Romanesque to Gothic didn't work in the same way everywhere (and obviously not at the same time everywhere). We are talking about Spain here and not the North of France. All I can offer right now is a copy-paste extract (see below) from an Arteguias course about Romanesque art in Spain; it shows a Romanesque portal of a church in Palencia as an example. I should have something more detailed about pointed arches and Romanesque churches in Spain but it's somewhere in a backup file ...

View attachment 66816

The portal looks like late romaneque when the gothic style was being developed. Below is an English translation of

Tardorrománico - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

es.m.wikipedia.org

The late Romanesque is the third stage of Romanesque art arranged in this way by the historiography of Romanesque. Chronologically it is distributed from the end of the full Romanesque (second half of the twelfth century) to the first quarter of the thirteenth century when Gothic art begins to triumph . This era is the most active construction of monasteries of Cistercian monks .

Features
The pointed arches begin to appear, at first as a simple constructive resource and later as ornamental art. Almost all the churches of the monasteries of the Cistercian are built with these arches at the same time that the heavy buttresses and the half-point arches typical of the Romanesque plenary are still used.

A direct inspiration is detected in the works of Antiquity as well as Byzantine aesthetic values along with an idealized naturalism demonstrated in the interest in Nature.

This evolution in art can also be seen in sculpture. As an example, the Portico de la Gloria of the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, which has characteristics that allow it to be considered as a Romanesque work of transition to the Gothic.

In front of the Romanesque statue-column first, you can see a change in the proportion of the characters, and a communication between them. The figure of the late Romanesque begins a process of individualization by which each acquires a series of characteristics, such as the arrangement of their dresses, or the features of their faces.

 

[VNwalking]

This gorum is the best.
Thank you @Kathar1na and @Rick of Rick and Peg !
I learned sonething new today. wonderful.

[Edit - *forum
I left the typo as it's pretty funny and we all need a laugh...]

 

[SYates]

@VNwalking You might want to have a second look at the second work (should have been word) in your post above ;-) but it put a smile on my face ;-) BC SY

 

[Bert45]

@VNwalking You might want to have a second look at the second work in your post above ;-) but it put a smile on my face ;-) BC SY

SYates, you might want to have a second look at the twelfth word in your post above.

 

[VNwalking]

work

Hahaha!
Well, words are work, when you're using a teeny phone keypad.........

 

[SYates]

SYates, you might want to have a second look at the twelfth word in your post above.

OOPS!

Hahaha!
Well, words are work, when you're using a teeny phone keypad.........

I didn't even have that excuse, I was typing on my laptop ;-)

BC SY

 

[VNwalking]

 

[Bert45]

I had never heard this church called the "German Church" till I came across this thread. Of course, I googled to find out why the OP had called it that. I found that there is a connection, but not enough to call it the German church (imo). Since nobody else has raised the question, maybe I'm wrong?

 

[Kathor1]

Since nobody else has raised the question, maybe I'm wrong?

You are not wrong. As you no doubt know the (for Spain apparently unique) crucifix inside the church - a crucifix that is Gothic beyond any doubt ☺ - has a story according to which"German" pilgrims brought this crucifix to Puente la Reina. I put quotation marks around "German" because they are supposed to be pilgrims from the Rhineland area; Germany as such didn't exist in those days. This area was a feeder area for pilgrims to Santiago, just like the Benelux countries nearby.

I looked a bit closer into all this and as so often I now have my doubts about this legend about the Rhineland pilgrims carrying this cross all the way to Puente la Reina or even to Santiago and back. The cross is Y-shaped which is unusual; it is called a forked cross or crucifixus dolorosus as it emphasises the pain and suffering of the Passion. According to the EN and DE articles in Wikipedia which seem to be well researched, it is possible that the original forked crosses that can be found still today in the Rhineland area were not locally created but were imported from Italy or carved by itinerant craftsmen. So it is quite possible that there is not much of a "German" connection in this iglesia in Puente la Reina at all.

It pains me that I didn't visit the church and didn't see it. For reasons too boring to explain we walked on the main road to our accommodation and while we later explored Puente la Reina we never walked so far back again. We spent time looking for the "black Santiago" (Santiago beltza) in one of the other churches and didn't find him either. Either he was on loan or he isn't black anymore as I think the statue had been restored and cleaned and the guidebook I had was not up to date. . Ah, I've put them on the list for the big road trip to Santiago that I might do one day ...

 

[Marcus-UK]

I had never heard this church called the "German Church" till I came across this thread. Of course, I googled to find out why the OP had called it that. I found that there is a connection, but not enough to call it the German church (imo). Since nobody else has raised the question, maybe I'm wrong?

Post Roman Occupation and pre Moorish invasion A lot of Spain was under Germanic Goth/Visigoth control. There are one or two Visigoth churches in Barcelona and Santa Maria de Lara near Burgos. May have nothing to do with the German Church, but what the heck:-}

 

[Kathor1]

May have nothing to do with the German Church, but what the heck:-}

. German and Germanic isn't the same, the Angles, the Jutes and the Saxons ("Anglo-Saxons") were Germanic, too . Your comment made me look up the wanderings of the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths again. They were all over the place but never really in the area that is Germany. The map shown below is from the SPIEGEL magazine but easy to understand: the movements of the Goths (Goten) who split into Visigoths (Westgoten) and Ostrogoths (Ostgoten) is marked in green; the Roman empire and Roman influenced areas are marked in an earth tone. It was my limited knowledge about this period of time - called Migration Period or Völkerwanderung (literally: "Peoples' Walk") or Invasion of the Barbarians, depending on one's viewpoint - that contributed to my idea of walking to Santiago. I had never really thought about how long it takes to cover such distances. Amazingly little time, as it turned out .

 

[Amused212]

I think most of you will remember the unusually stark Iglesia del Crucifijo. This is a link to a picture of the doorway View attachment 66805 Does anyone know what this king of structure is called? Or how would you describe this architectural style? Thanks

Is there a small primer on the distinguishing characteristics of each style of architecture?

 

[SYates]

Is there a small primer on the distinguishing characteristics of each style of architecture?

Try Wikipedia for that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_architectural_styles
Happy reading, BC SY

 

[NorthernLight]

A fun read is 'Europe 101: History and Art for the Traveller' by Steves & Openshaw. Probably gives as much as the casual observer would want to know, or is a fun intro.

 

[NorthernLight]

Like most invading armies at that time, the Visigoths intermarried with the local nobility and became the co-ancestors of the kings and queens who held the northern kingdoms against the Arab invaders.

 

[Bert45]

I googled "the german church" with "puente la reina" and obtained 75 results. The only one in which the Church of the Crucifix was referred to as "The German Church" was the first one, the post at the top of this page. I am left to wonder where did the OP find this rather rare description?

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]