The Holy chamber of Oviedo ( es, Cámara Santa de Oviedo, also known as the chapel of St. Michael) is a
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
pre-Romanesque
Pre-Romanesque art and architecture is the period in European art from either the emergence of the Merovingian kingdom in about 500 AD or from the Carolingian Renaissance in the late 8th century, to the beginning of the 11th century Romanesqu ...
church in
Oviedo,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, built next to pre-romanesque Tower of San Miguel of the
city's cathedral. Nowadays, the church occupies the angle between the south arm of the cathedral transept and a side of the cloister.
It was built during the 9th century as a palace chapel for King
Alfonso II of Asturias
Alfonso II of Asturias (842), nicknamed the Chaste ( es, el Casto), was the king of Asturias during two different periods: first in the year 783 and later from 791 until his death in 842. Upon his death, Nepotian, a family member of undeter ...
and the church of San Salvador of Oviedo. Apart from acting as royal chapel, the Holy Chamber was built to house the jewels and relics of the cathedral of San Salvador in Oviedo, a function it continues to have 1200 years later. Some of these jewels were donated by the Kings Alfonso II and Alfonso III, and represent extraordinary gold artifacts of Asturian Pre-Romanesque, brought from Toledo after the fall of the
Visigothic
The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...
kingdom.
Consequently, the cathedral of Oviedo was also called '; owing to quantity and quality of relics contained in the ( en, Holy Chamber). The Holy Chamber remains as the only sample of the early medieval complex. It was built as a relics' room to keep the different treasures associated with the
Kingdom of Asturias
The Kingdom of Asturias ( la, Asturum Regnum; ast, Reinu d'Asturies) was a kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula founded by the Visigothic nobleman Pelagius. It was the first Christian political entity established after the Umayyad conquest of ...
(
Cross of the Angels
The Cross of the Angels ( ast, Cruz de los Ánxeles, es, Cruz de los Ángeles) is a pre-romanesque Asturian reliquary donated by Alfonso II of Asturias in the year 808 to the Church of San Salvador in Oviedo, Asturias (Spain). The Cross of the ...
,
Victory Cross
The Victory Cross ( Asturian and Spanish: ''Cruz de la Victoria'') is an early 10th century Asturian crux gemmata or jewelled cross, given by King Alfonso III of Asturias, who reigned from 866 to 910, to the Cathedral of San Salvador of Ov ...
,
Agate box,
Arca Santa and
Sudarium of Oviedo), brought from Jerusalem to Africa, and after several translations was finally deposited at Oviedo by
Alfonso II of Asturias
Alfonso II of Asturias (842), nicknamed the Chaste ( es, el Casto), was the king of Asturias during two different periods: first in the year 783 and later from 791 until his death in 842. Upon his death, Nepotian, a family member of undeter ...
.
It was declared a
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
by
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
in December 1998.
Architecture
It consists of two overlapping aisles with a barrel vault; the crypt or lower floor has a height of 2.30 metres, and is dedicated to
St. Leocadia, containing several tombs of other
martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
s.
The crypt of St. Leocadia is a rectangular chamber with walls of
rubble
Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...
. It has a rude semicircular unbroken barrel vault, barely 80 cm high at the crown. Originally it was lighted by very narrow windows, mere loopholes, splayed internally, in the side walls, and by one large window at the east end.
The Camara Santa, as its ancient parts show, consists of a square eastern
sanctuary, attached to a rectangular cella . The sanctuary has a low barrel vault. Its frontal arch is carried by two marble columns of Roman origin. A pair of similar columns decorate the east window, which internally has an arch, but externally a square head with a rude brick relieving arch, just like the east window of the crypt below. Their capitals have a
Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to:
*Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible:
**First Epistle to the Corinthians
**Second Epistle to the Corinthians
**Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox)
*A demonym relating to ...
style, with leaves packed into shells, relief being produced by the
drill, and recall an angle capital in
San Julián de los Prados.
On the upper floor, the Camara Santa dedicated to
St. Michael, was extended in the 12th century, elongating the central section to six metres, a reconstruction that also provided it with its current decoration, a masterpiece of Spanish
Romanesque. From an architectural point of view, the Holy Chamber's construction solved one of the greatest problems of Asturian Pre-Romanesque: the vaulting of two overlapping spaces, later used in the buildings of
Ramiro I of Asturias
Ramiro I (c. 790 – 1 February 850) was king of Asturias (modern-day Spain) from 842 until his death in 850. Son of King Bermudo I, he became king following a succession struggle after his predecessor, Alfonso II, died without children. During ...
.
Sudarium of Oviedo
The
Sudarium of Oviedo, or Shroud of Oviedo, also cloth of Oviedo, is a bloodstained cloth kept in the
Arca Santa for which the chapel was built. The Sudarium (Latin for sweat cloth) is claimed to be the cloth wrapped around the head of Jesus Christ after he died. There are notable congruencies with a number of related
acheiropoieta
''Acheiropoieta'' (Medieval Greek: , "made without hand"; singular ''acheiropoieton'') — also called icons made without hands (and variants) — are Christian icons which are said to have come into existence miraculously; not created by a huma ...
images such those of the
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...
and
Manoppello Manoppello ( Abruzzese: ') is a ''comune'' in Abruzzo, in the province of Pescara, south-eastern Italy.
It is famous for having a church which contains an image on a thin byssus veil, a sudarium, known as the Holy Face of Manoppello and which has ...
.
The Rediscovered Face - 1
first of four installments of an audiovisual presentation relating the holy image with a number of ancient predecessors, YouTube, access date March 2013.
See also
*Asturian architecture
Pre-Romanesque architecture in Asturias is framed between the years 711 and 910, the period of the creation and expansion of the kingdom of Asturias.
History
In the 5th century, the Goths, a Christianized tribe of Eastern Germanic origin, arrived ...
*Catholic Church in Spain
, native_name_lang =
, image = Sevilla Cathedral - Southeast.jpg
, imagewidth = 300px
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See in Seville
, abbreviation =
, type ...
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Camara Santa, Oviedo
9th-century churches in Spain
Buildings and structures in Oviedo
Churches in Asturias
Pre-Romanesque architecture in Asturias
Roman Catholic chapels in Spain
World Heritage Sites in Spain