San Benito el Real, Valladolid: Difference between revisions

Current facade of the Church of San Benito el Real.

The Church of the Monastery of San Benito el Real is a Benedictine order, Roman Catholic church located in Valladolid, in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain.

History

It was erected at the site of the old Royal Alcázar of Valladolid and designed originally in Gothic style; although the façade, with its gate-tower shape, was designed in 1569 in a Renaissance-influenced style by Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón. Originally, the towers flanking the entrance were considerably taller, but these were shortened in the 19th century due to concerns about their structural integrity.

History

Drawing of the church before the 19th-century alteration of the two bodies of the bell tower.

1924 photograph of San Benito.

Interior from base, with the fence.

The church was built using stone from 1499 to 1515, following plans of Juan de Arandia and García de Olave. It is organized by three naves, which end in three polygonal apses without a crossing. The aisles are tall, with minimal height difference with the center nave, creating a space that suggests a single church-hall, more common in the first half of 16th century.

The interior is lit through large oculi, that it open in the wall of the lateral nave of the side of the Epistle and in the apses. Originally, there were also some holes in the central nave, covered following the lifting of the rooftops towards 1580. In the section of the feet is the high choir, covering the three naves of the church.

The exterior of the building has thick walls of limestone (extracted from quarries near Valladolid, like Villanubla, Zaratán or Campaspero) and large windows that illuminate the spacious interior. The side facades are articulated by buttresses that counteract the thrust of the vaults with terceletes with which it is covered on the inside. The pillars that divide the naves are baquetonates. It can be seen that the closer sections to the head have decorated capitals and cornices, which disappears in the sections of the feet, more austere. This may be due to the search for a cheaper budget as advanced the works, begun by the head, to the medieval custom.

Interior decoration

Given that the Benedictines had then so much power and being this its main house in Castile, the church holds artworks of high quality.

Sculpture depicting Sacrifice of Isaac by Alonso Berruguete.

Detail of the fence.

San Benito in night.

File:Boveda de la iglesia del monasterio de san benito el real.jpg

Vault of San Benito.

Among the treasures that were in the church include the Altarpiece of San Benito el Real of Valladolid and the choir stalls, which was in the central nave.

The choir stalls (1528) were sculpted by Andres de Nájera. It has low and high chairs and was available in the central nave. The stalls were used for the annual meetings of the abbots of Castilian monasteries of the Benedictine order, which took place in this church. The backs of high chairs depict the saints to whom different Spanish Benedictine houses were dedicated, allowing each abbot to find his seat. The style of the stalls is the Plateresque. The style to the Roman from Italy had only recently arrived to Spain. Appear decorations that are based on the paintings of Domus Aurea of Rome. The images of saints have also completely depart from prior Gothic models.

In 1571 was put the iron grille covering the three naves settled and divided transversely the church into two parts: the front of the church for the common people, and the apse, intended for monks. The fence is work by Tomás Celma and is an estimable sample of the fencery at the time.

In addition to the altar and choir stalls were in the church other works of art of great value: small altars, tombs, organs, and so on.

After the Ecclesiastical Confiscation of Mendizábal in 1835, the monastery became in fort and barracks, and the church deconsecrated. It was stripped of the works of art, though the choir stalls were kept, and the altarpiece moved to the National Museum of the College of San Gregorio of Valladolid. The fence is all that remained in the church and had not damage suffered. From the middle of the 19th century, many called for the reopening of the church; which occurred in 1892, under the administration of the Venerable Third Order of the Carmel. From 1897 it is Order of the Barefoot Carmelite which takes care of the church. In 1922 was installed a new Baroque altarpiece, from a church of the town of Portillo (Castile and León).

Adjacent to the church is the monastic building with three cloisters; one of them the known Patio Herreriano, now a museum of contemporary art, and a Mannerist main facade designed by Juan Ribero de Rada.

At present, the prior of the convent is Juan Jesús Sánchez Sánchez, from the convent of the Carmelite Fathers of Medina del Campo.

Altarpiece

The former altarpiece that had the monastery and much of the pieces composing it are now located in the Museo Nacional de Escultura in Valladolid, the rest is lost destroyed by the Confiscation. This altarpiece was made by Alonso Berruguete between 1526 and 1532.

• 
  Calvary
• Statues that were in the predella
  Statues that were in the predella
• 
  A relief
• First floor
  First floor
• Second floor
  Second floor

Bibliography

• María del Rosario Olivera Arranz (2002). "Valladolid". Encyclopedia of the Romanesque in Castile and León: Valladolid. Aguilar de Campoo: Fundación Santa María la Real - Centro de Estudios del Románico. pp. 433–438. ISBN 978-84-89483-22-4. 1nFDEol8FO4C&pg=PA433.

External links

• monestirs.cat. "Monasterio de San Benito el Real de Valladolid".
• Valladolid Web. "Iglesia de San Benito el Real".