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The Ermita de San Pelayo y San Isidoro (
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
: Hermitage of Saint Pelagius and Saint Isidore) is a ruined Romanesque church, originally in the city of Ávila, Spain. It was built outside the city walls, in front to the Gate of Malaventura in the south side of the Walls. In Ávila, there remains an area known as the Atrium of San Isidro. After the
Spanish confiscation The Spanish confiscation was the Spanish government's seizure and sale of property, including from the Catholic Church, from the late 18th century to the early 20th century. It was a long historical, economic, and social process beginning with ...
, it was moved to Madrid, where it had different locations. Its remains finally found accommodation in the
Buen Retiro Park The Buen Retiro Park (Spanish: ''Parque del Buen Retiro'', literally "Good retirement park"), Retiro Park or simply El Retiro is one of the largest parks of the city of Madrid, Spain. The park belonged to the Spanish Monarchy until the late 19th ...
in central
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
.


History

Its first patronage was to the Córdoban child martyr,
Pelagius Pelagius (; c. 354–418) was a British theologian known for promoting a system of doctrines (termed Pelagianism by his opponents) which emphasized human choice in salvation and denied original sin. Pelagius and his followers abhorred the moral s ...
, and thus is cited in a document of the year 1250, in which it says that the church was exempt of tax. Moreover, there is a text of consecration carved on a tombstone dated to the year 1270. Historians who have studied this tombstone assume that this might refer to a second consecration of the church, when the dedication of Saint Pelagius was changed to Saint Isidore. After this, there have not come to light more documents that would inform the development and evolution of the small temple until 19th century, thanks to the book of the Cofraternity of San Isidro which was discovered in the sacristy of the church of San Nicolás in Ávila. Also is cited that before the patronage that this hermitage had inside the Saint Isidore's saint's relics before being transferred to León in 1062. Also are known through the documents of the Archives of Ávila, the Academy of Fine Arts and the General Archive of the Administration of
Alcalá de Henares Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish city in the Community of Madrid. Straddling the Henares River, it is located to the northeast of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated Municipalities ...
, the circumstances of its transfer to Madrid after the
Spanish Confiscation The Spanish confiscation was the Spanish government's seizure and sale of property, including from the Catholic Church, from the late 18th century to the early 20th century. It was a long historical, economic, and social process beginning with ...
. ; Confiscation and move to Madrid In the 19th century the church belonged to the Asociación de Labradores (Association of Farm workers); it must be then when changed its patronage to Saint Isidore. Around 1854 the building was badly damaged and the City Council ordered to the Association its demolition. At the same time, the Association offered the temple to the City Council but was not accepted, so they prepared to carry out the required work of demolition. But passed a years without doing anything until in 1876 the State applied the law of
Confiscation Confiscation (from the Latin ''confiscatio'' "to consign to the ''fiscus'', i.e. transfer to the treasury") is a legal form of seizure by a government or other public authority. The word is also used, popularly, of spoliation under legal forms, o ...
, demolishing in 1877 to sell the remains of the demolition to individuals. That was how a neighbor of Ávila bought most of the stones; Emiliano Rotondo Nicolau -engineer and businessman with interests of archaeologist, resident in Madrid- bought the rest of the ashlars and architectural elements. After a failed attempt of sell to the City Hall of San Sebastian, Rotondo Nicolau could sell the ruins to the Real Academia de la Historia in 1893 for 18.000 pesetas. The new location of the church was in the gardens of the Museo Arqueológico and its fate would, besides of show it as relic of the Romanesque, use as a chapel where is to give Mass with the Mozarabic Rite every Sunday. But all just was a project until Cánovas del Castillo in 1897 it interested in the monument and the museum it ceded to City Hall of Madrid ordering its transfer to the Buen Retiro Park under the supervision and project of the architect
Ricardo Velázquez Bosco Ricardo Velázquez Bosco (1843–1923) was a Spanish architect, archaeologist and scholar. Velázquez's most notable architecture was erected in Madrid, buildings such as the Palacio de Cristal and the Palacio de Velázquez (both in the Parque d ...
.Friends of Romanesque. Retrieved April 7, 2014
/ref> The location, next to the intersection of O 'Donnell with Menéndez Pelayo, very close to the Montaña Artificial, is pleasant, surrounded by greenery and centenary trees and could have been a ruins to the romantic taste, but the building suffered another forgotten and abandoned. Finally at the beginning of 21st century City Council of Madrid sent to tidy the place recovering stones, capitals, shafts, cornices, etc. that were scattered in the environment.


Building description

The hermitage was made in rectangular
ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...
s of
limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
. It was a temple of unique nave with wood cover. The head was semicircular with
semi-dome In architecture, a semi-dome (or half-dome) is a half dome that covers a semi-circular area in a building. Architecture Semi-domes are a common feature of apses in Ancient Roman and traditional church architecture, and in mosques and iwans in Isla ...
, and straight section with
barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...
in turn divided into two parts. Both the architectural structure of the head as the decorative motifs that can be seen in the drawings of Van den Wyngaerde, Repullés and Francisco Aznar link this building with San Vicente, San Pedro and San Andrés of Ávila, so the date of construction can approach that of those temples, the mid-12th century. In the unique nave it opened two doors, one to south and one to the west (puerta de los pies); still the remains of one of the two in which it can see the three midpoint
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 support in the
abacus The abacus (''plural'' abaci or abacuses), also called a counting frame, is a calculating tool which has been used since ancient times. It was used in the ancient Near East, Europe, China, and Russia, centuries before the adoption of the Hin ...
es united to impost. Although almost not noted, this impost is carved with roses of four petals inscribed in circles. The same rosettes formed the decoration carved of the archivolts; yet it can guess its trace. The capitals had a zoomorphic and vegetal decoration. Despite the deterioration it can still see the acanthus leaves. In the
apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...
it opened three semicircular windows with archivolt and chambrana. Remain two as witness and in its it can distinguish the deep flare ending in narrow
arrowslit An arrowslit (often also referred to as an arrow loop, loophole or loop hole, and sometimes a balistraria) is a narrow vertical aperture in a fortification through which an archer can launch arrows or a crossbowman can launch bolts. The interio ...
. The archivolts rest on abacuses and capitals that were decorated with leaves and birds with the beak between the legs, like those that can be seen in the Iglesia de San Andrés of Ávila. According to the preserved drawings, in the straight section had blind arches of a single arch whose capitals were decorated with plant motifs, lions and birds. The study of this decoration has suggested in the workshops that carved San Pedro and San Vicente and the covers of San Andrés. File:03 Madrid El Retiro ruinas ermita romanica lou.JPG, Romanesque door File:08 Madrid El Retiro ruinas ermita romanica lou.JPG, Exterior of the apse File:12 Madrid El Retiro ruinas ermita romanica lou.JPG, Inside part of the door; at background the Casa del Pescador File:13 Madrid El Retiro ruinas ermita romanica lou.JPG, Ruins everywhere


See also

*
Romanesque architecture in Spain Romanesque architecture in Spain is the architectural style reflective of Romanesque architecture, with peculiar influences both from architectural styles outside the Iberian peninsula via Italy and France as well as traditional architectural p ...


References

{{coord, 40.4206, N, 3.6804, W, type:landmark_region:ES, display=title Demolished buildings and structures in Spain Romanesque architecture in Castile and León Romanesque architecture in Madrid 12th-century churches in Spain Church ruins in Spain Ruins in Madrid Buildings and structures demolished in the 19th century