Sant Joan de les Abadesses

Sant Joan de les Abadesses (Spanish San Juan de las Abadesas ) is a Catalan municipality in the province of Girona, northeastern Spain. It is located in the comarca Ripollès.

• 3.1 The church 3.1.1 The three-dimensional configuration of the apses
• 3.1.2 The " Santissimi Misteri "

Geography

Geographical location

The place is located in the Pyrenees near the French border just before the town of Ripoll. Sant Joan de les Abadesses counted on 1 January 2013 3434 inhabitants and is situated in the valley of the River Ter, but still at an altitude of 775 meters above the sea level. After Ripoll it is the second most important town of the comarca Ripollès.

Policy

The municipal election in 2007 resulted in the following distribution of seats in the local council:

History

Its history is closely connected with the monastery. The existing documents mention the place since the time when the Moors were expelled. However, there are indications that they were previously in the years 717/718 based here. The former Count of Barcelona Wilfred the Hairy ( Guifré el Pelós ) began with the colonization of the valley and founded a nunnery in 880, moved in to the daughters of the best families in the country. His daughter Emma was the first abbess of the Benedictine abbey. By the year 1017 resulted abbesses of the monastery. Then they were accused and expelled by the Pope of turmoil.

The to the Abbey ( " Sant Joan " ) named place is formed around the monastery and also referred in his name affix it ( abadesa = abbess ).

In the 11th century the religious community was dissolved. The church of the monastery went through several changes of ownership and briefly served even as a cathedral. At the end of the 16th century, the cathedral was a collegiate church.

After the first Benedictine came Augustinian and Benedictine monks, who improved the reputation of the monastery again. They created archives where the songs of the troubadours are included that document the culture of that time.

The monastery church

The present building dates mostly from the first half of the 12th century. In it penetrate very different style influences. The ambulatory goes back to French models, a design which very rarely occurs in Catalonia.

The plastic design of the apses

The outer side of the choir is plastic conspicuous richly endowed. The capitals of the outer apse indicate, inter alia, Oriental influences - it will be shown elephants. The initial impetus might come from südspanisch - Islamic sources. Engraved characters refer unmistakably to Arabic inspiration, also the candlestick in the interior.

The topics of the capitals are partly primal - atavistic example unite two bodies in a bearded head, etc.

The " Santissimi Misteri "

The outstanding work of art in the interior is the large carved group of the Descent from the Cross from the year 1251 " Santissimi Misteri " of the lay brother Dulcetus. This type of representation was common in Spain since the 12th century. Here we have the late peak of the genus before us. Characteristic for this direction of the Spanish Romanesque sculpture is the realistic depiction of the heroic act, the rejection of all pageantry. In the face of Christ there was for centuries a host.