Santa Cristina de Lena: An Asturian Pre-Romanesque Church in Spain
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Spain
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Kingdom of Asturias, Visigothic
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page14 sections
History
Santa Cristina de Lena is a Roman Catholic pre-Romanesque church in Spain, built within the medieval Kingdom of Asturias during the ninth century. Its surviving masonry is generally associated with the reign of Ramiro I, who ruled from 842 to 850, or with that of his successor Ordoño I, who ruled from 850 to 866. The exact construction date is unknown, although the completion of the present church is also linked with a date around 852.
Early foundations and the Asturian kingdom
The foundations may reach back to the seventh century, during the period of the Visigothic kingdom in Iberia. The church was probably part of a palace complex. The nearby place-name Palacio, meaning “palace,” supports this interpretation, as does the building’s architectural relationship with the palace complex on Monte Naranco near Oviedo.
Santa Cristina de Lena stands above the Lena River and the Caudal valley, near a historically important route through the Lena valley and across the Cantabrian Mountains. The former Roman road linking León with Oviedo and the coast followed this corridor. Roman villas discovered near the church during archaeological excavations provide evidence of earlier settlement in its surroundings.
Dedication and later attention
The church is dedicated to Christina of Bolsena, a Christian martyr traditionally associated with the Italian city of Bolsena during the third century. Its original patron was probably Torquatus of Acci, a traditionally venerated early Christian saint associated with Acci in Hispania.
On 28 November 1793, the Spanish writer, intellectual, and public official Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos visited Santa Cristina de Lena and drew the church. The publication of his drawings brought the monument to renewed attention among art historians and the wider public.
By 1887, the building was in a precarious condition, and the architect Ricardo Velázquez Bosco began restoration work. It was restored again in 1919, reportedly suffered damage during the 1934 Asturian miners’ strike, and was repaired in the 1950s. Further work on the roof and windows took place in 2012.
Santa Cristina de Lena became a Spanish Property of Cultural Interest in 1885. In 1985 it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage listing for the Monuments of Oviedo and the Kingdom of the Asturias, alongside San Miguel de Lillo and Santa María del Naranco. The listing was expanded in 1998. Asturias established a protected surrounding area in 2009.
Remains
Plan and construction
Set on a mountain site near Vega del Rey in the Felgueras area of Lena, the church measures approximately 16 by 12 metres, with its façade facing northeast. Its rectangular plan has four square, vaulted annexes joined to the centre of the four sides. The western annex forms the entrance vestibule, the eastern one is the apse, and the northern and southern annexes are additional vaulted enclosures.
Irregular rubble stone bonded with mortar forms the walls, while large ashlar blocks are concentrated mainly at the corners. Thirty-two buttresses reinforce the exterior. Unlike most Asturian pre-Romanesque churches, a medieval architectural tradition developed in the Kingdom of Asturias before Romanesque forms became widespread, Santa Cristina de Lena has a single nave and one apse rather than three.
Vaulted interior
A barrel vault, a continuous semicircular vault resembling half a cylinder placed lengthwise, covers the nave. Blind arcades, series of arches applied to a wall without open passages behind them, run along the nave walls and support its five vault bays. Transverse arches strengthen the vaults, resting on half-columns with truncated-pyramidal capitals. In the apse, the vault rests on blind arcades along the north and south walls.
Sanctuary and liturgical screen
Raised sanctuary
The easternmost bay of the nave, immediately before the apse, rises almost one metre above the main floor. Side stairways lead to this elevated area, which is separated from the rest of the nave by a three-arched arrangement. Two superimposed rows of round arches rest on marble columns with Corinthian capitals, and the two outer arches provide passage into the altar area.
Marble lattice panels
Five transennae, pierced stone or marble lattice panels used as screens, occupy the wall between the two rows of arches. They reuse Visigothic marble slabs, with three panels placed above the arches and two above the central columns. The central panel has five small horseshoe-shaped openings, a feature that may reflect Mozarabic influence. One of the panels was made from a funerary monument dated 643.
Central stone screen
The central arch contains a half-height stone screen separating the elevated sanctuary from the nave. Probably made between the late seventh and early ninth centuries and reused in the church, it consists of two marble slabs and a slightly taller central pier. Its relief decoration includes circles, rosettes, vines, and grapes, while incomplete inscriptions survive along the upper edges, showing that inscribed slabs were reused.
The sanctuary, screen, lattice panels, and curtains follow the Hispano-Visigothic liturgical practice used in Spain until the eleventh century. Curtains could conceal the choir or altar area, while the screen performed a function comparable to an iconostasis, the partition separating the sanctuary from the nave in Eastern Orthodox churches.
Upper spaces and decoration
Hidden chamber
A Cámara occulta, or hidden chamber, lies above the apse. It is an enclosed room whose purpose remains uncertain. Its position forms part of the church’s distinctive upper structure.
Western gallery
A gallery above the western vestibule is traditionally interpreted as a royal gallery or tribune. A stairway connected to the wall provides access to it. The interior has been compared with the belvedere of Ramiro I’s palace on Monte Naranco, which was later converted into Santa María del Naranco.
Carved ornament
The spandrels of the blind arcades contain simplified circular medallions, or clipei, depicting lions. Only one pilaster preserves its decoration, which shows a rider carrying a lance. Together with the reused marble screens and the vaulted arrangement, these carvings form part of the surviving interior fabric of the church.
