Castle of Loarre
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Castle of Loarre is a Romanesque
Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
and
Abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...
located near the town of the same name,
Huesca Province Huesca ( an, Uesca, ca, Osca), officially Huesca/Uesca, is a province of northeastern Spain, in northern Aragon. The capital is Huesca. Positioned just south of the central Pyrenees, Huesca borders France and the French Departments of Haute-Ga ...
in the
Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...
autonomous region of
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 ...
. It is one of the oldest castles in Spain.


History

The castle was built largely during the 11th and 13th centuries, when its position on the frontier between
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
and
Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
lands gave it strategic importance. The first of the two major building programs began circa 1020, when Sancho el Mayor (r. 1063–94) reconquered the surrounding lands from the Muslims. After 1070, Loarre became increasingly important. In 1073, King
Sancho Ramírez Sancho Ramírez ( 1042 – 4 June 1094) was King of Aragon from 1063 until 1094 and King of Pamplona from 1076 under the name of Sancho V ( eu, Antso V.a Ramirez). He was the eldest son of Ramiro I and Ermesinda of Bigorre. His father was the f ...
installed a community of Augustinian canons, and it was from Loarre that he prepared for the conquest of
Huesca Huesca (; an, Uesca) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the autonomous community of Aragon. It is also the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and of the comarca of Hoya de Huesca. In 2009 it had a population of 52,059, almo ...
in 1094. In 1097, however, his successor,
Peter I of Aragon and Navarre Peter I ( es, Pedro, an, Pero, eu, Petri; 1068 - 1104) was King of Aragon and also Pamplona from 1094 until his death in 1104. Peter was the eldest son of Sancho Ramírez, from whom he inherited the crowns of Aragon and Pamplona, and Isabella o ...
, donated all the goods of Loarre to a new royal monastery at Montearagon. This evidence suggests that the second major construction program was undertaken between 1073 and 1097, and much building evidently does date from this period. By comparison with other monuments, however, it is also clear that the building and decorative program continued into the 12th century. __NOTOC__ The location appears in the 2005
epic film Epic films are a style of filmmaking with large-scale, sweeping scope, and spectacle. The usage of the term has shifted over time, sometimes designating a film genre and at other times simply synonymous with big-budget filmmaking. Like epics in ...
''Kingdom of Heaven''.


Architecture

The castle's location on a rocky outcrop affected the layout; it was not possible to have one unified structure, and like many castles, Loarre was a collection of buildings bounded by curtain walls. Originally the internal plan included two towers and a chapel behind several curtain walls. Towards the end of the 11th century, an additional chapel was built in
Romanesque style 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 later ...
just outside the castle walls. The outermost walls of the castle and their eight towers were erected in the 13th or 14th century. The church and castle have been the subject of numerous restorations, a major one in 1913 and subsequent ones, particularly during the 1970s, have resulted in the rebuilding of many walls and towers that had fallen into disrepair. At least three towers, two of which survive, the
keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...
(''Torre del Homenaje'') and the "Tower of the Queen" (''Torre de la Reina''), as well as a chapel dedicated to Saint Mary of Valverde and connecting walls are attributed to this campaign. The keep was built in an isolated position in front of the fortifications, to which it was connected by a wooden bridge. It contained a basement and five floors. The ''Torre de la Reina'', comprising a basement and three floors, is particularly noteworthy for three sets of twin-arched windows, with columns of exaggerated
entasis In architecture, entasis is the application of a convex curve to a surface for aesthetic purposes. Its best-known use is in certain orders of Classical columns that curve slightly as their diameter is decreased from the bottom upward. It also may ...
and trapezoidal
capitals Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
that have been related to both Lombard and
Mozarab The Mozarabs ( es, mozárabes ; pt, moçárabes ; ca, mossàrabs ; from ar, مستعرب, musta‘rab, lit=Arabized) is a modern historical term for the Iberian Christians, including Christianized Iberian Jews, who lived under Muslim rule in A ...
ic architectural forms. The chapel is composed of a single-cell nave with an eastern apse covered by a semicircular vault. The original timber roof of the nave was replaced by a vault at the end of the 11th century.


Bibliography

*R. del Arco: El castillo-abadía de Loarre, Semin. A. Aragon., xiii?xv (1968), pp. 5?36 *F. Iñiguez Almech: Las empresas constructivas de Sancho el Mayor: El castillo de Loarre, Archv Esp. A., xliii (1970), pp. 363?73 *A. Canellas-López and A. San Vicente: Aragon Roman, Nuit Temps (La Pierre-qui-vire, 1971) *A. Duran Gudiol: El castillo de Loarre (Saragossa, 1971) *J. F. Esteban Lorente, F. Galtier Martí and M. García Guatas: El nacimiento del arte románico en Aragón: Arquitectura, Investigaciones de Arte Aragonés (Saragossa, 1982) *J. E. Mann: San Pedro at the Castle of Loarre: A Study in the Relation of Cultural Forces to the Design, Decoration and Construction of a Romanesque Church (diss., New York, Columbia U., 1991) *


References


External links


Castillo de Loarre (es)


{{Commons category, Loarre castle Castles in Aragon Buildings and structures in the Province of Huesca Buildings and structures completed in the 12th century Romanesque architecture in Aragon Tourist attractions in the Province of Huesca