Santa Cristina de Lena
43°7′38.4″N 5°48′51.5″W / 43.127333°N 5.814306°W / 43.127333; -5.814306Architecture Type Church Style Pre-Romanesque Groundbreaking 7th century Completed 852 Specifications Direction of façade NE Length 16 metres (52 ft) Width 12 metres (39 ft) Type Cultural Criteria ii, iv, vi Designated 1985 (9th session) Parent listing Monuments of Oviedo and the Kingdom of the Asturias Reference no. 312bis-003 Region Europe and North America Official name: Ermita de Santa Cristina Type Non-movable Criteria Monument Designated 24 August 1885 Reference no. RI-51-0000050 
UNESCO World Heritage Site
St Christine of Lena (Spanish: Santa Cristina de Lena[pronunciation?]) is a Roman Catholic Asturian pre-Romanesque church located in the Lena municipality, about 25 km south of Oviedo, Spain, on an old Roman road that joined the lands of the plateau with Asturias.[1]
Description
The church has a different ground plan to Pre-Romanesque's traditional basilica. It is a single rectangular space with a barrel vault, with four adjoining structures located in the centre of each facade. The first of these annexes is the typical Asturian Pre-Romanesque vestibule, with a royal tribune on the upper part, accessed via a stairway joined to one of the walls. To the east is the enclosure with the altar, with a single apse, foregoing the traditional Asturian pre-romanesque triple apse, and going back to Visigoth influences. To the north and south respectively, there are two other enclosures through semicircular arches and barrel vaults, whose use was associated with the Hispano-Visigothic liturgy practised in Spain up to the 11th century.[2][3]
One of the most particular elements of Santa Cristina de Lena is the existence of the presbytery elevated above floor level in the last section of the central nave, separated from the area intended for the congregation by three arches on marble columns. This separation, which appears in other Asturian churches, is not repeated in any other with a similar structure. Both the lattices over the arches and the wall enclosing the central arch were re-used from Visigothic origins in the 7th century.[4]
Gallery
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View from the outside -
View from the outside -
Nave and chapel -
Floor map of the church
See also
- Asturian art
- Catholic Church in Spain
References
- ^ Fergusson, James (1867). "Book VII: Spanish and Portugal". A history of architecture in all countries. Vol. 2. John Murray. pp. 123–124.
- ^ Lapunzina, Alejandro (2005). "Santa Cristina de Lena, Pola de Lena (near Oviedo), Asturias". Architecture of Spain. Westport: Greenwood Press. pp. 229–232. ISBN 0-313-31963-4.
- ^ Conant, Kenneth (1992). Carolingian and Romanesque Architecture: 800-1200. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 92. ISBN 0-300-05298-7.
- ^ Arias Paramo, Lorenzo (1992). "Geometría y proporción en la arquitectura prerrománica asturiana". Actas del III Congreso de Arqueología Medieval Española (in Spanish). Oviedo: Universidad de Oviedo: 27–37. ISBN 978-84-604-1916-7. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Church of Santa Cristina de Lena.
- A virtual tour of the church. Tourismo Asturias on Facebook (published 17 June 2017). Online resource accessed 6 November 2018.
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Monuments of Oviedo and the Kingdom of the Asturias
- 312-001: San Miguel de Lillo
- 312-002: Santa María del Naranco
- 312-003: Santa Cristina de Lena
- 312-004: Cámara Santa de Oviedo
- 312-005: Basilica of San Julián de los Prados
- 312-006: La Foncalada
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