Romanesque architecture in Spain

Its mark was left especially on religious buildings (e.g., cathedrals, churches, monasteries, cloisters, chapels) which have survived into the twenty-first century.

Towards the end of the tenth century, a number of stabilizing events restored some balance and tranquility in Europe, greatly easing the political situation and life in Christendom.

Monasteries and churches were built during these years and architecture was geared towards more durable structures to withstand future attack as well as fire and natural disasters.

The Roman legacy of roads and highways allowed better communication between the numerous monasteries and facilitated pilgrimages to the holy places or small enclaves of popular devotion.

All Romanesque architectural work was made up of the director (master builder), a foreman in charge of a large group forming workshops of stonecutters, masons, sculptors, glassmakers, carpenters, painters and many other trades or specialties, who moved from one place to another.

From documents that have survived in Spain about works contracts, litigation and other issues, it is known that a house or living accommodation was allocated in the cathedrals for the master and his family.

There was a provision in the contracts requiring that master's always provide: their daily presence on site and strict control of workers and of the progress of the building.

Aymeric Picaud in his Codex Calixtinus provides data that: [...] with about 50 other stonemasons who worked there regularly, under the caring direction of Don Wicarto (con aproximadamente otros 50 canteros que allí trabajaban asiduamente, bajo la solícita dirección de don Wicarto)[...][2]These masons and other workers were exempted from paying taxes.

(in Spanish) Prior Pedro Caro made this church, house, cloister and everything here was founded in 1185.In other cases it is the systematic study of the sculpture along with the architecture that has allowed historians to draw conclusions.

Thus it is known that in the Lleida Cathedral, Pere de Coma served as master builder from 1190-1220, but during that period there were also several clearly differentiated sculpture workshops.

The same study conducted in the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral suggests Master Mateo as the promoter and director of successive workshops which has aspects performed by different hands but under one coherent direction.

The Romanesque artist adapted to the will of these people giving the best work of his trade and complying with the satisfaction of a job well done without having any desire nor intending to acquire worldwide fame as he began to develop from the Renaissance.

However, the Romanesque fully triumphed and this was mainly due to the patrons and promoters who carried out great works from which the new style was developed throughout the northern half of the Iberian Peninsula.

His travels to Rome (1011 and 1016) and his contact with Franco monasticism, accounted for his knowledge of the Roman liturgy and its introduction into the Catalan Church.

Oliba adopted Cluny's standards, both in architecture as well as customs and under his patronage and direction major reforms were carried out, new buildings or in other cases mere extensions to suit the needs of the times.

However, there are a variety of buildings that can be clearly identified, if not entirely but to a large extent, as following the pattern of these French schools: Each kingdom, region or geographic region of the peninsula, and events (such as the Camino de Santiago), marked a distinctive style influenced by the geographical environment itself, by tradition, or simply by the gangs of hired masons and builders who moved from one place to another.

Another fact to consider is the survival of the Moorish populations, who formed gangs of workers and artists who gave a special stamp to buildings.

Trenches were distributed under the walls that would go over them and others were made crosswise in order to join the passageways together and strengthen the pillars of the transverse arches.

This placement was because, being built of brick, a material less consistent than stone, the builders had to locate the towers in the strongest, more resistant section, usually at the apses.

The bell-gable (referred to as espadaña in the Iberian Peninsula) was built as a vertical continuation of the wall and the spans were opened to receive the bells and it was easier and cheaper to build.

Also, Cistercian and Premonstratensians monks painted the walls of their churches, in white or a light earthy color, and they sometimes outlined the joints of the blocks.

This custom of painting or revoking the buildings was not new to the Romanesque of the Middle Ages but represented the continuity of the construction method from olden times.

Fragments of capitals with their original painting have been found among the ruins of the San Pedro de Arlanza monastery and they give an indication of how the rest was decorated.

These sculptures were of religious depictions, covered a number of profane, and important issues to the eleventh- and twelfth-century population such as field work, the calendar (as in the case of the capitals of the Santa María la Real de Nieva cloister, from late Romanesque), war, customs, and more.

The prototype of the Romanesque church was non-rural, medium-sized and with the floor plan of a basilica with three naves containing three semicircular apses and a transept.

Throughout the twelfth century the traditional Hispanic type temples with three straight and terraced apses were still being built in some areas like in the city of Zamora.

They usually had three naves with a groin vault cover, with variations, such as the circular crypt with a pillar in the center in Cuixá and Sant Pere de Rodes.

Traditional historiography suggests that, in the latter church, the tribune was a special place for Queen Sancha, wife of Ferdinand I, but more recent studies show that the dates do not match.

So, it was with the so-called Romanesque palace of Diego Gelmírez in Santiago de Compostela, which is actually a totally Gothic factory, or buildings of Segovia sinecures from the Middle Ages.

[10][11] Traditionally, buildings that have a good portal with a semicircular arch and large segments have been called "Romanesque" stylized houses or palaces, but they are actually structures from the Gothic era.