10 October 2012

Global Seminars & Invited Speaker Series

AROUND THE EXHIBITION OCCIDENS. DISCOVER THE ORIGINS

Pamplona Cathedral and the Romanesque art of Navarre

Mr. Javier Martínez de Aguirre
Complutense University of Madrid

The construction of the Romanesque cathedral of Pamplona during the first three decades of the 12th century was the most important event for the development of Romanesque art in Navarre. Previously, interesting architectural undertakings had been carried out, such as the crypt and new church of the abbey of Leire (consecrated in 1057) and the chancel of Ujué (under construction around 1089), but neither one nor the other brought about a substantial change in the monumental landscape of the kingdom.

The renovation of the cathedral complex began with the Building of the canonry in the last years of the 11th century, as a consequence of the reform of the chapter promoted by the French bishop Pedro de Roda, a firm follower of the reformist ecclesiastical policy promoted by the papacy. The building intended to house the regular life of the canons was later used as employee storeroom , which is why it received the name of cillería by which it was known until its original use was recently identified. The work involved local stonemasons and at least one sculptor from the South of France, as the capitals of the doorway show. The canonry was organised on two levels separated by a wooden slab. The distribution of the internal spaces can be seen in the non-uniform distribution of the windows.

Around 1101 the same bishop brought into his service Esteban, master builder of the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, whom he commissioned to build a new church. Work progressed rapidly, so that it was possible to consecrate the church in 1127. We know its ground plan thanks to the excavations carried out at the end of the 20th century. Of notable dimensions in its three longitudinal naves and transept, it included special features such as the main chapel with a polygonal exterior and semicircular interior, inspired by the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.

The great cathedral building soon served as model for other churches in the diocese built in the second third of the 12th century, starting with abbeys such as Irache, urban parishes such as Santa María de Sangüesa, rural parishes such as San Martín de Unx and cathedral deaneries such as Zamarce. The usual resource in these churches for the window-arch combination and the alternation of openings and blind arches leads us to think that both solutions existed previously in the Pamplona cathedral. Traces of the construction solutions used in the Pamplona church can still be found in a second generation of churches built during the third third third of the century, such as Santa María de Tudela, San Miguel de Cizur Menor or Santa María de Yarte.

In terms of sculpture, the cathedral's western doorway, the plan of which we know thanks to the plan by Ventura Rodríguez, was derived from forms from Compostela (capitals in the Museum of Navarre). On the other hand, the so-called Master of the Cloister, creator of some of the finest capitals of the first half of the 12th century in Europe, came directly from the innovative focus of Toulouse. His stories of Jesus Christ and Job are striking not only for their detail, but especially for their narrative capacity. The nods to the anecdotal in the Job capital are as attractive as the dramatic intensity of the Passion and Resurrection scenes. The echo of the cathedral façade is perceptible in those of Gazólaz, Zamarce and Artaiz; in the latter it is combined with compositions and motifs inspired by the cloister of Pamplona.

semicircular staircase that bridges the difference in level to the "Claustrillo" area. Opposite this, a new staircase connected the building with the exterior to the east, overcoming the significant difference in level by means of nine steps.
 

Job in prayer. Detail of the capital from the cloister of Pamplona Cathedral (ca. 1130, Museum of Navarre).