The Church of San Esteban de Aramil ( es, Iglesia de San Esteban de Aramil) is a church in the parish of Arami,

Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in nor ...

, Spain. The church was first mentioned in documents in 1240 and was declared a cultural monument in 1960.

History

The church is of the Romanesque style, popular between the 10th and 13th centuries, but the church itself cannot be dated more exactly. It was first mentioned in documents from 1240 concerning a donation of goods to the monastery of Valdediós by Alvar Diaz and his wife. There are two theories concerning its origin; one is that it is the last remaining remnant of a monastery and the other is that it is a nobleman's church, which would have served both as the chapel for the castle and the church for the neighboring town. It was granted Cultural Monument status on March 23, 1960, which was published in the Official State Bulletin (BOE), on 29 June 1960.

Architecture and fittings

The church has the classic features of

Romanesque architecture Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque style, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 11th century, this lat ...

; it has a rectangular nave terminated at the southern end by a semicircular apse. Sculptural ornamentation of the church includes the doors, located on the western side of the church and in the apse.

The West Portal

The semi-circular archivolts formed the West portal, its outside wall is patterned with

zigzag A zigzag is a pattern made up of small corners at variable angles, though constant within the zigzag, tracing a path between two parallel lines; it can be described as both jagged and fairly regular. In geometry, this pattern is described as a ...

, and inside wall is plain. The west door has a semi-circular arch with two semi-arches and screens that rely on separate columns. Besides these two columns, there are plant motifs and chequered canopy on all

archivolt An archivolt (or voussure) is an ornamental moulding or band following the curve on the underside of an arch. It is composed of bands of ornamental mouldings (or other architectural elements) surrounding an arched opening, corresponding to the ...

s, formed by shafts supported on bases that have carved lilies forming the columns' capitals.

The South Portal

The southern section is less important in addition to being smaller although it is similar in design to the western door. The South portal is also formed by two semi-circular archivolts, The interior wall is decorated with Zamoran scrolls of Norman origin, and the exterior wall has pointy heads biting and a round molding, showing various imaginary animals.

The Apse

There is a small central window in the apse, only the cornice is decorated, this semi-circular archivolts window ha

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...

s and a canopy.

References

¢ The West portal, the South portal, and the Apse portion are attributed from https://www.turismoasturias.es, a public domain.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Church Of San Esteban De Aramil 13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Spain Esteban de Aramil Romanesque architecture in Asturias Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in Asturias