San Salvador Church, Villaviciosa, Spain

Iglesia de San Salvador is a Romanesque-style church located in the town of Fuentes, Villaviciosa. The church of San Salvador is documented in 1021 (via an inscription) as due to the patronate of Diego Perez, and consecrated by Bishop Adaganeo I. The church appears to have been built in the 12th-century. The diocese of Villaviciosa is mentioned in 1385 by the bishop of Oviedo, Gutierre de Toledo. The temple is mentioned in 1625 in documents of the Monastery of San Pelayo of Oviedo. In the 18th century it was a parish church. The church was declared an Artistic Historical Monument in 1931. During the Spanish civil war the church was burned, it was reconstructed in its prior form in 1950.

A processional crucifix, a bejeweled silver cross, with gilded wood, semiprecious stones and a Roman cameo from the church, one of the pinnacles of goldsmithery in medieval Asturian, were stolen in 1898 and sold to French and then American private collectors. In 1917 J. Pierpont Morgan donated it to the Metropolitan Museum in New York, where it now is exhibited.

References:

Wikipedia

Religious sites in Spain

User Reviews

Lorenzo Miravalles de Aldecoa (15 months ago)
Belonging to the El Palacio de Fuentes complex, it is one of the most prominent Asturian pre-Romanesque symbols.

Pisadiel (20 months ago)
Romanesque church of San Salvador de Fuentes (1021), in El Muriel, Fuentes (Villaviciosa, Asturies). We would be here before the church of a family monastery of the s. XI, Romanesque -very influenced by Asturian pre-Romanesque-, founded by Diego Pepici and his wife Mansuara; reformed in the s. XII and that in the s. XV appears dependent on Santa María de Villamayor (Piloña, Asturies) and then San Pelayo d'Uviéu. Burned down in the summer of 1936 by the usual sheep and restored in 1950 by the architect Luis Menéndez Pidal. Single nave and rectangular head. Adds of belfry, sacristy and portico (ss. XVIII-XIX). Its processional cross (c. 1150), donated by Doña Sanccia Gundisalvi, was sold (1898) by the pastor of Palacio Palacio by mandate of the diocese - Bishop Ramón Martínez Vigil (1884-1904) - supposedly for the payment of the new Basilica of Covadonga, but that reeks of antiquarian operation, passing through different hands and countries (French and Yankee), donated in 1917 by the banker and collector John Pierpont Morgan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York).

Florentino Ballina (2 years ago)
It is a jewel of the Romanesque that I recommend visiting

Mercedes Herrero (2 years ago)
Small church near Villaviciosa

Leticia A.A. (3 years ago)
the church was closed and does not put when it is possible to visit it. there is nowhere to park your car nearby, and to get there on foot, you take a road without maple.

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright Ana Paula Hirama

Historic Site of the week

Holy Trinity Column

The Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc is a Baroque monument built in 1716–1754 in honour of God. The main purpose was a spectacular celebration of Catholic Church and faith, partly caused by feeling of gratitude for ending a plague, which struck Moravia between 1713 and 1715. The column was also understood to be an expression of local patriotism, since all artists and master craftsmen working on this monument were Olomouc citizens, and almost all depicted saints were connected with the city of Olomouc in some way. The column is the biggest Baroque sculptural group in the Czech Republic. In 2000 it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list.

The column is dominated by gilded copper sculptures of the Holy Trinity accompanied by the Archangel Gabriel on the top and the Assumption of the Virgin beneath it.

The base of the column, in three levels, is surrounded by 18 more stone sculptures of saints and 14 reliefs in elaborate cartouches. At the uppermost stage are saints connected with Jesus’ earth life – his mother’s parents St. Anne and St. Joachim, his foster-father St. Joseph, and St. John the Baptist, who was preparing his coming – who are accompanied by St. Lawrence and St. Jerome, saints to whom the chapel in the Olomouc town hall was dedicated. Three reliefs represent the Three theological virtues Faith, Hope, and Love.

Below them, the second stage is dedicated to Moravian saints St. Cyril and St. Methodius, who came to Great Moravia to spread Christianity in 863, St. Blaise, in whose name one of the main Olomouc churches is consecrated, and patrons of neighbouring Bohemia St. Adalbert of Prague and St. John of Nepomuk, whose following was very strong there as well.

In the lowest stage one can see the figures of an Austrian patron St. Maurice and a Bohemian patron St. Wenceslas, in whose names two important Olomouc churches were consecrated, another Austrian patron St. Florian, who was also viewed as a protector against various disasters, especially fire, St. John of Capistrano, who used to preach in Olomouc, St. Anthony of Padua, a member of the Franciscan Order, which owned an important monastery in Olomouc, and St. Aloysius Gonzaga, a patron of students. His sculpture showed that Olomouc was very proud of its university. Reliefs of all twelve apostles are placed among these sculptures.

The column also houses a small chapel inside with reliefs depicting Cain's offering from his crop, Abel's offering of firstlings of his flock, Noah's first burnt offering after the Flood, Abraham's offering of Isaac and of a lamb, and Jesus' death. The cities of Jerusalem and Olomouc can be seen in the background of the last mentioned relief.

Do you know an ancient castle or magnificent church near you?

Why not share it with other people interested in history? You can add your own historic sites and attractions to SpottingHistory.com.

It's absolutely free, easy, and doesn't even need registration!

Upload data

San Salvador Church

Address

Details

More Information

Rating

Interesting Sites Nearby

User Reviews

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Rhodes, The Island of Knights

Great Spa Towns of Europe

History of Guernsey & Jersey

Historic Site of the week

Holy Trinity Column

Looks like you are a history fan!