The term "arte de repoblación" (literally, "art or architecture of repopulation") refers to the pre-romanesque churches built in the Christian kingdoms of northern Spain between the late 9th and early 11th centuries. This was a time when these kingdoms were growing stronger after the Muslim occupation.
These churches show a mix of different styles, including Visigothic, Asturian, Mozarabic, Carolingian, and even Andalusian Muslim influences. This mix of styles reflects the different cultures that were living together at that time. Within this period, we can see different groups of churches, like Mozarabic churches in the Kingdom of León or the Serrablo group, each with its own unique style.
In the 10th century, Muslim influences can be seen in many buildings in northern Spain, even religious ones. This is because these Christian kingdoms were neighbors to the powerful Muslim caliphate of Córdoba. However, the term "repoblación art" emphasizes that these churches were not always built by the small groups of Mozarabic people who moved to these areas from Muslim-controlled lands.
The term "repoblación art" includes some of the buildings that were previously called "Mozarabic" by scholars following the work of Manuel Gómez-Moreno. However, there is still some debate about this term, and many authors use "Mozarabic art" to describe this period.[1]
In Spanish historiography, the Repoblación is the expansion of Christian settlement in the Duero basin and the Meseta Central in the 9th–10th centuries.
History
The religious influences were inevitable given the presence of the Islamic state of the Caliph of Córdoba, which was highly developed culturally, artistically and economically. However, it had long been suggested that the monumental buildings in northern Spain from this period were crafted by the modest groups of Mozarabic immigrants that settled in the areas of repopulation when the living conditions in Muslim al-Andalus became difficult to bear. As stated by professor Isidro Bango Torviso, suggesting that these immigrants were responsible for these buildings would be akin to suggesting that:
when the Duero River Valley was repopulated under the auspices of the Asturian-Leonese kingdom, northerners settlers would have forsaken all their knowledge and experience and submitted themselves to the 'very rich and demonstrated creative capacity' of poor, rural southern immigrants.
The art and architecture of the Repoblación is identified as the third subset of the Hispanic Pre-Romanesque period, by the phases that correspond to the Visigothic art and architecture and Asturian architecture. Its architecture is a summary of elements of diverse extraction, irregularly distributed, in such a way that on occasion elements of paleo-Christian, Visigothic or Asturian origin come to predominate, while at other times Muslim characteristics come to the fore.
Grouped columns forming composite pillars, with Corinthian capitals decorated with stylized elements and cinctures joining the capital to the columns.
Walls re-enforced by exterior buttresses.
Evolution of rafter ornaments to great lobed offsets that support very pronounced eaves.
Decoration similar to the Visigothic based on volutes, swastikas, and vegetable and animal themes forming projecting borders.
A great command of the technique in construction, employing principally ashlar by length and width.
Absence or sobriety of exterior decoration.
Diversity in the floor plans, with small proportions and discontinuous spaces covered by cupolas (groined, segmented, ribbed of horseshoe transept, etc.).
Featured examples
Below is a classification of temples of repoblación art into different groups based on their characteristics:
The Mozarabic art of the Kingdom of León is the ensemble of repoblación art characterized by being the most refined of this period, reflecting cultural and stylistic contributions from the Caliphate of Córdoba. These influences are manifested in the perfectly executed horseshoe arches, the elaborate spatial articulations, and in some cases, as in the church of Santiago de Peñalba (León), in the presence of murals that evidence the aesthetic relationship with Andalusian art.[2]
The church of San Pedro de Lárrede is considered the prototype of the Serrablo architectural group
The Churches of Serrablo, located in High Aragon and dated between the 10th and 11th centuries, bring together a group of churches with homogeneous characteristics and difficult classification, as they combine pre-Romanesque, Mozarabic, Lombard, and characteristics that anticipate the Romanesque, which is why it is also called Proto-Romanesque or Aragonese early Romanesque. These constructions usually have single-nave or simple division plans, horseshoe arches of Mozarabic influence, attached bell towers, and an incipient use of barrel vaults.[3][4]
These churches present hybrid characteristics, combining Mozarabic contributions in temples of Visigothic origin and, in many cases, with later extensions during the Romanesque period. Notable examples include the Monastery of San Millán de Suso in La Rioja, which preserves Visigothic and Mozarabic traces along with Romanesque reforms, and the hermitage of San Baudelio de Berlanga in Soria, notable for its singular structure with a central column that supports a palm-shaped vault and its murals.
Bango Torviso, Isidro G. "Arquitectura de la decima centuria: ¿Repoblación o mozárabe?" Goya: Revista de arte122 (1974), pp. 68–75.
Bango Torviso, Isidro G. "Arquitectura de repoblación", pp. 167–216. In Javier Rivera Blanco, Francisco Javier de la Plaza Santiago and Simón Marchán Fiz (eds.), Historia del arte de Castilla y León, Vol. 1, Prehistoria, Edad Antigua y arte prerrománico. Valladolid, 1994.
Camón Aznar, J. "Arquitectura española del siglo X: Mozárabe y de la repoblación". Goya: Revista de arte52 (1963), pp. 206–19.
Canellas López, Ángel; San Vicente, Ángel. Rutas románicas de Aragón. Madrid, 1996.
Martínez Tejera, Artemio Manuel. "El contraábside en la arquitectura de la repoblación: el grupo castellano-leonés", pp. 57–76. III Curso de Cultura Medieval. Seminario: Repoblación y Reconquista (Centro de Estudios del Románico, Aguilar de Campoo, septiembre 1991). Madrid, 1993.
Martínez Tejera, Artemio Manuel. "La arquitectura cristiana hispánica de los siglos IX y X en el Regnum Astur-leonés". Argutorio14 (2004), pp. 9–12
Monedero Bermejo, Miguel Ángel. La arquitectura de la repoblación en la provincia de Cuenca. Cuenca, 1982.
Moreno, Manuel Gómez. Iglesias mozárabes. Madrid, 1917.
Utrero Agudo, María de los Ángeles. Iglesias tardoantiguas y altomedievales en la península ibérica: análisis arqueológico y sistemas de abovedamiento. Madrid, 2006.
