This Pyrenean church, built in the 1500s, has a fortified bell tower that may be up to 300 years older: the Iglesia de San Miguel or Church of St Michael, under a fine roof of ragged fish scale pizarra stone slates, at Linás de Broto, Torla-Ordesa, Huesca, Aragon, Spain.
Linás de Broto, Torla-Ordesa, Huesca, Aragon, Spain: the restored Church of Saint Michael or Iglesia de San Miguel, seen here from the southwest, stands alone in a green, well-wooded Pyrenean landscape outside the village of Linás de Broto. Some experts believe that its slender bell tower, with both blocked and open round-arched Romanesque-style openings, was built as a free-standing defensive fortification as early as the 1200s or 13th century. Arrow slits or loopholes piercing the gabled tower add weight to their argument - but other authorities disagree, believing that it was built in the late-1400s (15th century) as a defence against French incursions into Aragon’s border valleys. Yet another strand of opinion asserts that the tower was built in the 1500s (16th century), as part of the phased general construction of the church. The date when the church was finished is not in dispute, as an inscription on an arch records its completion in 1587. Linás de Broto lies close to the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park and has two Pyrenean peaks as its backdrop: Mondicieto (2,384m) and Peсa de Otal (2,701m). The church, near the Sorrosal ravine, has a portico of three bays and is built of ashlar, under a fine roof of ragged fish scale pizarra stone slates. The church plays an important role in traditional local festivities, with an annual bonfire in honour of Saint Sebastian lit nearby on his feast day, 20 January.
Size: 4256px × 2832px
Location: Linás de Broto, Torla-Ordesa, Huesca, Aragon, Spain.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1200s, 13th, 1400s, 1500s, 1587, 15th, 16th, alabaster, aragon, aragonese, arches, architecture, arrow, ashlar, bell, broto, built, campanile, campaniles, catholic, century, christian, christianity, church, churches, completed, construction, , de, defence, defensive, fish, fortified, gable, gabled, gothic, high, huesca, iglesia, kerr, la, late, liná, loopholed, medieval, michael, miguel, pizarra, province, pyrenean, pyrenees, ragged, region, roman, romanesque, roof, saint, san, scale, slate, slates, slit, slits, sobrarbe, spain, spanish, stepped, stone, terence, torla-ordesa, tower, towers, windows
