The church of Santa María de Ujué
By Ignacio Miguéliz Valcarlos
high school and outbuildings around the church
Around the church are a series of outbuildings, some of them in ruins, which completed the sanctuary complex. Located next to the gable wall of the church, perpendicular to the Gospel side, are the ruins of a large rectangular construction, divided into two spaces, both with windows, and articulated on two levels, the upper one resting on transversal arches whose starts are still visible today. This space was used in the 18th century as a sacristy and may have originally corresponded to the General Study begun by Charles II between 1378 and 1379. Also on the Gospel wall, parallel to it, there is a large space known as the 'cloister', articulated by four segmental arches on pillars and covered with wooden framework supported by flying buttresses. Its function is unknown, and it may have been built during the reign of Blanca I (1385-1441). The space surrounding the chancel, enclosed by a wall with a chimney and several openings with Gothic bay windows, is from the same period or from that of her father Charles III (1361-1425), which testifies to its use as residency program, corroborated by the existence of a latrine. It was probably also used as a guild house or hostelry. Finally, in front of the main doorway of the church is a rectangular house of various heights divided into two bays by superimposed pillars and covered by a wooden structure. It has a door with a pointed arch and several lintelled windows on corbels. This building was used throughout history as a tithe house.
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