The Church of Santiago is located on the north-eastern corner of the main square of the town of Carrión de los Condes (province of

Palencia Palencia () is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Palencia. Located in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, in the northern half o ...

), Spain. The church stands on the main street that crosses the city following the Camino de Santiago and was built in the middle of the 12th century. It has suffered several alterations over the centuries, including a major fire in 1811, which have resulted in a mixture of architectural styles throughout the church. The western façade was built around 1160-1170 and is one of the culminating points of the Romanesque art in Spain.

The western façade

The western façade is made of three

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 that are decorated with sculpture. The archivolt in the middle contains 24

voussoir A voussoir () is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault. Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The ...

s with sculptures of medieval craftsmen, musicians and dancers, that show with great detail the clothes and instruments that corresponded to each craft. The archivolts stand on decorated capitals that are in turn supported by columns with spiral decorations. The sculpted

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

above the doorway shows

Christ Pantocrator In Christian iconography, Christ Pantocrator ( grc-gre, Χριστὸς Παντοκράτωρ) is a specific depiction of Christ. ''Pantocrator'' or ''Pantokrator'', literally ''ruler of all'', but usually translated as "Almighty" or "all-po ...

sitting in majesty within a

mandorla A mandorla is an almond-shaped aureola, i.e. a frame that surrounds the totality of an iconographic figure. It is usually synonymous with '' vesica'', a lens shape. Mandorlas often surround the figures of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary in tr ...

, typical of Romanesque sculpture. He is surrounded by the symbols of the Four Evangelists, the

Tetramorph A tetramorph is a symbolic arrangement of four differing elements, or the combination of four disparate elements in one unit. The term is derived from the Greek ''tetra'', meaning four, and ''morph'', shape. In Christian art, the tetramorph is t ...

. On each side of the Christ, the Apostles stand under small

multifoil arch A multifoil arch (or polyfoil arch), also known as a cusped arch, polylobed arch, or scalloped arch, is an arch characterized by multiple circular arcs or leaf shapes (called foils, lobes, or cusps) that are cut into its interior profile or intra ...

es. This frieze is likely the work of two different sculptors. The result are highly plastic sculptural compositions with their dramatic gestures and arrangements, their expressive use of texture and line. In these sculptures deep undercutting and effusive drapery establish an expressiveness that is at once moving and exhilaratingThe metropolitan Museum of Art, New York – The art of medieval Spain A.D. 500-1220 – Harry N. Abrams, Inc 1993 - pp 199-201

The interior

The interior originally consisted of three naves but only one nave remains in the current layout. The small museum contains some religious works of the 15th and 16th centuries.

Gallery

File:Iglesia de Santiago - Carrión de los Condes, Palencia.JPG, The church of Santiago File:Carrión de los Condes Church of Santiago 001 Romanesque portal Pantocrator.jpg, The western facade File:Carrion de los Condes - 015 (40398449644).jpg, A detail of the craftsmen on the archivolt File:Carrion de los Condes - 014 (40214086195).jpg, A detail of musicians and craftsmen on the archivolt File:Santiago Apóstol en Carrión de los Condes (31517867566).jpg, Christ Pantocrator surrounded by the symbols of the Four Evangelists File:Carrión de los Condes - Iglesia de Santiago, Museo de Arte Sacro 06.JPG, The interior of the church

References

External links

3D model with annotations of the western facade.
{{Authority control 12th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Spain Churches in Castile and León Romanesque architecture in Castile and León Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in the Province of Palencia