Church of San Salvador de Valdediós

San Salvador de Valdediós ( Church of the Redeemer ) is a pre-Romanesque church of Asturian style. It belongs to the municipality of Villaviciosa in Asturias, Spain and is about 40 km from Oviedo. Next to the church is the Cistercian monastery Valdediós.

History

, Also known as San Salvador de Valdediós El Conventin (the small monastery), built at the end of the 9th century as a palace chapel. The year of the start of construction is not occupied, but the year 893 as the date of initiation. On a marble stone is engraved the year 931, which refers to the era in what was then Spain, the Spanish era that began 38 years before the birth of Christ.

Architecture

The church is a three-aisled basilica with a barrel vault and three rectangular apses closed. It is predominantly built with mortar the assembled, large broken stone, partially also regularly hewn blocks were used. The exterior is divided by buttresses, which are reflected on the west facade of the inner division into main and side aisles. The nave has three entrances, two in the south aisle and one in the west. There opens with a round -arched portal, at the height of the balcony, a twin windows with small horseshoe arches surrounding a decorated with a floral scrolls ornament alfiz frame. In a Victory Cross or Tatzenkreuz is shown, hang the Greek letters Alpha and Omega on its arms, emblem of the Asturian King Alfonso III. Inside part is still the original floor in opus signinum receive. The open bell tower ( espadaña ) in the West dates from a later period.

There are two windows, a twin window Empor height and including a triple window on the east façade. Both have horseshoe-shaped sheets to the frame a alfiz running. The sheets will be marked as the rings of the column bases of deaf Change. To the south aisle, a porch from yellowish limestone blocks follows, have preserved their stone lattice in which two of the four arched windows. Neither the formation time nor the use of this porch are clear.

Murals

Restoration work pre-Romanesque frescoes were discovered under the baroque overpainting on which geometric motifs such as octagons and rhombuses are shown. About the mullioned windows on the west wall three crosses are shown, the middle, hanging on the cross arms, as on the Cross relief on the west facade, the letters Alpha and Omega, is larger. On all three cross arms small goblets can be seen, from which flames blaze.