Central apse of Romanesque Church of Sant Climent, built in the early 1100s, in Vall de Boí village of Taüll, Catalonia, Spain. The church has three semicircular eastern apses, all with simple Lombard decoration and round-arched slit windows formed by sculpted volcanic pumice rock.
Taüll, Vall de Boí, Lleida, Catalonia, Spain: round-arched and porthole windows sculpted from volcanic pumice rock light the semicircular apse closing the central nave of the 12th century Church of Sant Climent de Taüll, a superb example of the Early Romanesque architecture that has earned this Pyrenean valley its status as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The triple-nave church, consecrated in 1123, is a basilica combining Romanesque, Lombardic and Byzantine styles, with a soaring, Italian-style bell-tower. Sant Climent is the biggest and best preserved of the nine churches in the Vall de Boí that, collectively, form the most dense concentration of early Romanesque architecture in Europe. All three naves end in eastern apses with typically Romanesque round-headed slit windows. Simple arched Lombard decoration, again in pumice, runs below each roofline: groups of four arches on the central apse and groups of three on its companions. Sant Climent was built as Christianity thrived in the high Pyrenean valleys, despite much of Spain being under Moorish occupation. Silver deposits enriched local dignitaries, who employed nomadic skilled master builders and sculptors, known as Lombardi, to construct churches in fashionable imported styles. Inside, the central apse is decorated with a faithful replica of a vivid medieval polychrome fresco, a striking Christ Pancreator or Christ in Majesty by an artist known only as the Master of Taüll. The original painting was painstakingly removed for its protection and preservation and is now on display in the National Museum of Catalan Art in Barcelona.
Size: 2764px × 4154px
Location: Taüll, Vall de Boí, Lleida, Catalonia, Spain
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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