Medieval former royal nunnery church of Santa Maria at Santa Cruz de la Serós in Huesca, Aragon, Spain. Round-arched Romanesque windows are filled with ultra-thin sheets of translucent alabaster - a traditional material pre-dating the widespread use of glass. The church, first mentioned in the year 1070, was built for a Benedictine nunnery, founded by the royal House of Aragon as a ‘family monastery’. Some female members of the royal family ruled the nunnery as abbesses, while others patronised it, including daughters of the first King of Aragon, Ramero I (1007-1063).
Santa Cruz de la Serós, Huesca, Aragon, Spain: mullioned round-arched openings piercing a medieval belfry contrast with the windows filled with ultra-thin sheets of alabaster that light the rounded eastern apse of Santa María de Santa Cruz de la Serós, the Church of Saint Mary. Santa María, first mentioned in 1070, was built as the church of a Benedictine nunnery founded by the royal House of Aragon as a ‘family monastery’. Some female members of the family ruled the nunnery as abbesses, while others patronised it, including daughters of the first King of Aragon, Ramero I (1007-1063), who entered it as nuns. The church is one of the earliest examples of Aragonese Romanesque architecture. It was built on a Latin cross plan with a barrel-vaulted nave, a rounded apse and a domed southern bell tower. Traces of polychrome decoration on much of its stonework suggest it would once have been brightly painted. The church is close in design to the cathedral at Jaca, the original capital and royal city of Aragon. It possesses an unusual feature: an octagonal ‘secret’ chamber above the crossing with a ribbed dome-shaped vault, accessed only by a steep stairway buried in the thick south wall of the nave and entered by a small door set high in the wall. The room may once have served as the abbess’s quarters, or perhaps as a sanctuary where the nuns could hide in times of danger.
Size: 2832px × 4256px
Location: Santa Cruz de la Serós, Huesca, Aragon, Spain
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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