San Baudelio de Berlanga

[2] Legends about Saint Baudilus say that he earned the crown of martyrdom after preaching the gospel to local townspeople celebrating the birth of Jupiter, and that after his execution by decapitation with an axe, wells sprang up at the location of his death.

[3] A small adjoining cave is still accessible inside the southwestern wall of the sanctuary, where a hermit may have lived at one point, and locals still make pilgrimage to a freshwater spring near the church each year on May 20 (his feast day) to pay respects to Saint Baudilus, who also had miraculous cures named after him in earlier centuries.

[3] In the tenth century as the power of the Moors was diminishing in the North, it is probable that a hermit monk took refuge in the lonely cave in the Spanish countryside.

Also, San Baudelio closely correlates with a church pictured in the Codex Vigilanus (A. D. 976), approximating the construction of the hermitage to the late tenth or early eleventh century.

Of the paintings that came out to United States we have: The Dromedary, The healing of the blind and The resurrection of Lazarus, The Temptation of Christ, The three Marys before the tomb, The Holy Supper, The wedding of Cana, Entrance to Jerusalem and the Falconer.

[3] The lack of information on the church force it to be dated based on its architectural influences and construction, as well as through the paintings that once lined the interior of the small chapel.

"[4] The entrance to San Baudelio de Berlanga is a single horseshoe-arched door on the north wall of the building, which leads directly into the nave of the church.

Atop the pillar, in between the sprouting arches, is a small cavity, which is believed to be a place where treasures of the church or relics of its saint were once secured.

Another unusual feature of San Baudelio de Berlanga is its gallery, which spans the interior side of the west wall.

This tribune is constructed of a double row of horseshoe arches, which support a Choir area on the second floor, accessible by the stairs on the south wall.

The apsidal chapel, which joins the main building on its eastern side, is accessible through another horseshoe arched doorway, and sits four steps higher than the floor of the nave.

At its back wall is a small loophole shaped window, which until it was closed off, would have allowed morning light to enter the chapel.

One other unique aspect of San Baudelio de Berlanga is its connection to a small cave that lies under the hill on which the church sits.

Two sections, transferred to canvas, are now in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, showing the Entry of Christ into Jerusalem and the Wedding at Cana.

[7] Other sections, including The Healing of the Blind Man and the Raising of Lazarus and The Temptation of Christ are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York,[8] and in the Prado.

AVLA DE(I).Around the seventeenth century the interior of the church was completely white washed due to the severe state of deterioration of the murals.

Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father:" (John 20:17) Mary Magdalene is depicted with a halo surrounding her, white headdress and tunic, and red mantle.

Dressed in a long white tunic and orange mantle, the female shrinks backward in astonishment and observes a figure to the left.

Jesus touches the body of Lazarus with a long staff, which turns into a cross, and he is joined by a beardless figure with red hair, possibly St. John, who is holding a green book in his left hand.

Jesus is shown with a yellow-crossed nimbus, red hair, and pointed beard, and he wears an orange tunic with wide sleeves under a green mantle.

The bride, who is seated at the right, is dressed in an orange headdress, a pale green robe with wide sleeves, and raises her right hand with her palm turned outward.

At the left he is shown at the moment when Satan states "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread."

The devil, depicted with long horns, wings, and a human body with claw feet, drops three large stones to the ground.

Jesus, wearing a long orange tunic and dark blue mantle, holds up his left hand with palm outward in a sign of refusal.

It is highly possible at least four scenes may have included the Journey to Emmaus, Doubting Thomas, the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the side walls of the apse.

It would have probably been similar to the apse of Saint Martin de Fenouillar with the Savior surrounded by the twelve evangelists (including Paul) and the twenty-four elders of Revelation.On the lower west wall of the Church is the scene of a wounded deer as it flees the hunter aiming at him with the loaded crossbow.

Next to the wounded deer on the right is a hunter riding a horse, helped by three dogs chasing hares, which end up trapped in the forest.

The elephant of San Baudelio carries on its back a castle, allegory of diseases and miseries that have to be borne in the course of earthly life and the weight of the sins of existence.

Behind the warrior on the opposite side of the tribune a camel is depicted, an exotic animal, well known in the ancient world for their roles in the war, transport and the circus.

Assembling the pictorial program required painters to collect images into sections within the church structure and into registers along the wall.