Capilla de San Miguel Capela de San Miguel - Celanova, Ourense, Galicia, España
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Ariberna
N 42° 09.136 W 007° 57.412
29T E 586184 N 4667209
Capilla de San Miguel Capela de San Miguel, BIC since 1923
Waymark Code: WM13266
Location: Galicia, Spain
Date Posted: 08/30/2020
Views: 0
Chapel of San Miguel Arcángel
From the times of the founder, the only surviving architectural sample is the chapel of San Miguel , currently located behind the apse of the monastic temple and in what was once called the “novitiate garden”, and which currently constitutes a garden.
Its construction began in 937 and ended in 942 , it is the jewel of the complex and one of the most unique religious buildings in Spain . It was declared a National Monument in 1923 .
It presents characteristics of the Mozarabic style, with numerous horseshoe arches , very closed and with voussoirs with an off-center axis and surrounded by alfiz.
Built with perfect granite ashlars of very different sizes and seated to the bone, it measures 8.5 m. long by 6 m. high, occupying no more than 22 square meters on the ground. Both from the outside and inside, there are three volumes or bodies that identify the so-called Mozarabic or repopulation architecture . 4 The first of them is the nave, from which the interior is accessed, and which is covered with a barrel vault . A central body taller than the others, is superimposed in the center with an interior vault of edgesof brick, and a very protruding exterior overhang and equipped with the characteristic roll corbels. The third body is the apse, which is accessed by a horseshoe arch with an alfiz . Inside it has a gallon vault .
Its small dimensions make any theory about its original function doubtful. Whether it was a chapel for the private devotion of the saint, or a funerary building, the truth is that it is dedicated to the archangel Saint Michael and was ordered to be built by Froilán, brother of Saint Rosendo, as revealed by an inscription from the time engraved on the lintel of the door and that constitutes a prayer to Christ, of "Froila, sinner and unworthy servant of God", so that the visitor can commend it in their prayers.
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