The Church of San Jorge of Manzaneda (''Spanish'': la iglesia de San Jorge de Manzaneda) is a church in

Gozón Gozón is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. Its capital is the town of Luanco (also called Lluanco). The Cantabrian Sea lies on its northern edge, and it is bordered to the south by Corvera de Ast ...

, Spain. It is small in size, but it constitutes a notable example of Asturian Romanesque architecture. It was created during the classical period in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. It is small in size and significant for its architecture and its surrounding environment which has barely changed.

Architecture

Located next to the town Alvaré, in the parish of Gozoniega de Manzaneda, it maintains an area close to the standard measurements for the rural, Romanesque churches of Asturias. It has a singular rectangular

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

with no divisions of sections or side

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

s. The front of the building has two areas, one inspired by local tradition, and the other has international Roman themes. Other elements that link the church to the Romanesque are the decorative portions located in various spaces of the temple. The church includes

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 ...

motifs, a large arch with limited

iconographic Iconology is a method of interpretation in cultural history and the history of the visual arts used by Aby Warburg, Erwin Panofsky and their followers that uncovers the cultural, social, and historical background of themes and subjects in the visu ...

art, and

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 with human and animal images present in its

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 ...

. There are traits that bind the local construction with the simplicity of the church, because there was a scarcity of resources during the construction. It was built using mostly Sillarejo masonry. The rough and irregular walls connect to the decorative elements of local tradition. The ceiling combines elements of worship that were once popular. A wooden frame surrounds the nave. At the head of the church there is an arch and a

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 ...

ed ceiling, behind which is a

hemicycle In legislatures, a hemicycle is a semicircular, or horseshoe-shaped, debating chamber (''plenary chamber''), where deputies (members) sit to discuss and pass legislation. Although originally of Ancient Greek roots, the term and modern design de ...

. Historical data on the church is very scarce; there are no documents detailing the construction in spite of its undoubtable antiquity. Its history is linked to the nearby Palace of Manzaneda. The Palace of Manzaneda is a building from the 17th century, which was developed around a great late medieval tower.

History

The absence of epigraphic documents makes it difficult to date when the building was created; however, it has been concluded that the building was built between the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th century. This was concluded because of the plentiful Asturian Romanesque influence. The original work has undergone various altercations throughout history, although it is thought to maintain similar dimensions to the original. Small changes were executed over the past centuries, including the addition of a window in the south

, the closure of a gateway to the south, and the addition of the bell gable in 1774. The church was burned down during a civil war in 1936, ruining much of the church's content. A great restoration was carried out between 1942 and 1950. In the restoration, they modified the upper parts of the walls in the

and got rid of the

s that existed in that area.

References

Clavería, Julián (14 March 2008)
"Del Principado de Asturias"
''Asturias''. Retrieved 20 March 2022.

- Covadonga Cañas". ''www.arquivoltas.com''. Retrieved 2022-04-12.

Architecture

History

References

See also