HERITAGE WITHIN EVERYONE'S REACH. FROM ROMANESQUE TO BAROQUE IN THE AREA OF TAFALLA

19 September 2005

The Romanesque in the Valdorba: The Church of the Christ of Cataláin
Ms. Santiaga Hidalgo Sánchez

Organised by the Chair de Patrimonio y Arte Navarro and Tafalla Town Council.

The lecture dealt with the history and art of this small church of Valdorba, not only limited to the Romanesque period, but also making reference letter to the Gothic works that were preserved in it.

Nowadays, Shrine of Our Lady of Fair Love which receives pilgrimages from all over the valley, in the Middle Ages average was part of an assistance complex -depending on the Hospital of Roncesvalles- of the many that existed along the different roads that led to Santiago.

The lecturer highlighted how this church, in terms of its architecture, is an example of the typology of rural Romanesque churches in this area, with a single floor plan, semicircular apse and dome over the Wayside Cross. Regarding its sculpture, it is also model of the reception in Valdorba of the influences of what must have been the great Romanesque work in Navarre, the cathedral of Pamplona -now disappeared-. Along with the analysis of the church, in a lecture on the Shrine of Our Lady of Fair Love of Cataláin, it could not miss the reference letter to its titular image, the Gothic Crucified. Together with this devotional carving, the lecturer also alluded to another from the same Shrine of Our Lady of Fair Love, but which is kept in the Diocesan Museum, a Virgin and Child from the 13th century.

Finally, the exhibition was completed with the presentation of the curious Gothic baptismal font of the Shrine of Our Lady of Fair Love, unique in its style.