Church of San Pedro (Caracena)

The Romanesque church of San Pedro in the small mountain village Caracena in the northern Spanish province of Soria belongs to a group of about 60 to 70 extant churches with a south porch in the altkastilischen provinces of Burgos, Soria, Segovia and in the northwest of the province of Guadalajara, Castile -La Mancha.

Location

The church is located - as well as the neighboring church of Santa María - in almost 1,100 meters above sea level. inst in the barren hillside in the south of the province of Soria and that, remarkably, not in the center but on the outskirts of Caracena.

History

About the or the client and the exact year of the church building is no information available - some assign it to the late 11th, another of the first half of the 12th century. During this time Caracena was the center of a district with over 30 hamlets and farmsteads. Whether because of climatic or other reasons, the surrounding farms were gradually abandoned and impoverished Caracena since the late Middle Ages, more and more; the result was that the two Romanesque churches of the place remained virtually unchanged.

Architecture

Exterior

The church is characterized by its tower, but rises in the west but not above the Vorchorjochs - both placements were quite possible and common in the Middle Ages. The square in his draft tower is accompanied by a semi- high circular stair tower; the spiral staircase inside which consequently leads only to half the height of the main tower, then you had to continue climbing through ladders up to the bells. The semicircular apse - as well as the west facade - built from largely unprocessed broken stones; it is completely unarticulated and - with the exception of a partially figurative frieze console - designed without decor beneath the eaves, which may possibly be considered an indication of an early date. In the nave of the church and on the two towers, such console Friese missing entirely.

South porch

Alone by precise processing and bricking up the stones, the south porch is different from the rest of church; they could therefore - together with the stabilizing buttresses - have been added in the early 12th century, which is also supported by the fact that the inputs to the porch and to the Church are not in alignment. Seven arcades open the south side, another is located on its eastern side. The asymmetrical system of arches has - given to speculations, if they could not be collapsed in later times - - related to the lack of input in the west and the austerity of the facade with the result that on the left side missing two arcades. A similar asymmetry of the south porch but can be found in the approximately 100 kilometers further north church of Jaramillo de la Fuente, there is no doubt in the original condition.

An essential feature of the porch are her twin pillars on both sides of the entrance to double again. The four columns on the left are straight up; the four pillars of the right side, however, are rotated about an imaginary inner axis - a striking and quite rare motif, which also appears in the cloister of the monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos, which is commonly assigned yet the end of the 11th century. Also between the capitals of silos and those of Caracena there is a certain relationship, which is perhaps due to migratory stonemasons. Despite the rather poor state of preservation is figurative and abstract motifs can be distinguished: It can be found fighting or tjostierende knight and a wild boar hunting with dogs as well as a well-preserved Doppelkapitell in basket shape. Up to the fifth capital which may display sleeping guards (soldiers) and the young women at the empty grave of Christ, are missing - for this time but not unusual - biblical themes.

Capital with lion and bird-like creatures with hoods

Capital with knights of old (tournament? )

Capital with wild boar hunting (?)

Interior

The interior of the church nave is barrel- vaulted and has transverse arches as joists; the walls of the Vorchorjochs and the apse are compared with the two nave Jochen slightly elevated and drawn inwards. Also, the western part of the church is defined by wall projections from the rest of the nave. Whether the interior of the church was formerly imagined, can no longer be determined.