October 30, 2013

Global Seminars & Invited Speaker Series

Navarrese sanctuaries in the Ribera of Navarre

Mr. José Javier Azanza López.
Chair of Navarrese Heritage and Art

The centuries of the Modern Age, especially the XVII century, were a period of revitalization of the Marian cult in the Ribera de Navarra, which is reflected in the brotherhoods and associations dedicated to the Virgin, as well as in the pilgrimages, processions, novenas and other cults celebrated in her honor. As a result of this devotion, a large number of sanctuaries are now being built or remodeled Structures, buildings whose execution and ornamentation were understood as a collective work to which public authorities and private donations, some of which came from overseas, contributed.

In this group of riverside sanctuaries, it is worth analyzing their location and the reasons for their location, some in the urban center of the locality and others at a certain distance from it. Exceptional in this sense is the gallery that communicates Cascante with its sanctuary of the Romero, an authentic "brick train" formed by 37 semicircular arches that can be put in relation - although to a more modest level - with the porticoed gallery that unites the city of Bologna with the temple of the Madonna of San Luca.

Cascante. Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosemary. Arch
 

As for its plan, most of them adopt a Latin cross layout following the models of conventual architecture. However, there are exceptions, such as the Romero de Cascante, whose three-nave plan maintains the configuration of the primitive medieval Shrine of Our Lady of Fair Love ; and the basilica of sponsorship in Milagro, with an oval floor plan that refers to the concept of "Marian-morphic" architecture from Italy, which considers the oval as the most perfect of geometric shapes, while attributing to it a clear Marian symbolism because its beauty is similar to the grace and delicacy of the female body, and these reach their sublimation in the sacred body of the Virgin.
 

Miracle. Basilica of Our Lady of the sponsorship. Plan
(Photograph: Monumental Catalog of Navarra)
 

On the outside, sobriety is the characteristic grade of the sanctuaries of the Navarrese riverside, thanks to employment of geometrically simple volumes that turn them into authentic "safes" that protect the interior treasure. Brick is the material par excellence, and its decorative possibilities are explored by means of grooving and chain work that provide interesting chiaroscuro effects; occasionally it is enriched with the application of ceramic and tile work, which gives it a certain polychrome character. Stone is only used in the basements and some of the entrance doors to the interior. The exception is once again the sponsorship de Milagro, whose proliferation of architectural structures gives the complex a dynamic silhouette of ascending sense and Central European reminiscence.
 

Miracle. Basilica of Our Lady of the sponsorship. Exterior
 

The interiors, on the other hand, are richly ornamental, to which several elements contribute. On the one hand, the decorative works applied to the architecture, either by means of vegetal plasterwork -the dominant motif to which are added fabrics and angels- arranged as a superb tapestry that masks walls and vaults, or by means of mural paintings that develop themes of Marian exaltation of narrative or symbolic character, in tune with the dedication of the building. In addition to the plasterwork and mural paintings, there are the altarpieces, mainly the main one, commissioned to the main retablists of the time. It houses the titular image, a work of artistic and devotional value that occupies the central space of the altarpiece and receives a special illumination, as if it were a celestial apparition. The image is surrounded by canvases with scenes of the Virgin's life that compose a Marian cycle. Other altarpieces and paintings are arranged in the arms of the Wayside Cross, in many cases allusive to the patron saints of the locality. It is also frequent the presence of votive offerings, pictures commemorating a miracle performed by the Virgin to whom the sanctuary is dedicated.
 

Villafranca. Shrine of Our Lady of Fair Love de Nuestra Señora del Portal. Interior
 

Finally, an indispensable element in most of the sanctuaries of the Navarrese riverside is the camarín, an architectural organism of central plan conceived as a stage for the public presentation of the images, as a dressing room, or to house the relics of the Virgin. Practiced behind the area of the chancel and almost always at the same level, it becomes an isolated space conducive to the plastic integration of the arts, but at the same time subordinated to the building with which it connects through the main altar, from where it becomes visible in a clear example of transparent architecture. A small "chest of wonders", the dressing room must be specially decorated, with a beauty and luxury, if not always achieved, always intended.
 

Arguedas. Shrine of Our Lady of Fair Love of the Virgin of the Yugo. Camarín