Saint John of Ciliergo: Romanesque in the Picos de Europa

In the north of Spain, there are four communities, which, like imaginary cardinal points, cling, on all four sides, to that imposing natural wonder, which are the Picos de Europa: Cantabria, Asturias, Palencia and perhaps, with a little less than prominence than the previous ones, also León.

The destination that I propose to you today, despite continuing in the future through the emblematic area of Cantabria, eventually stops at the border with Asturias and more specifically, on the outskirts of the last Asturian town, before inevitably heading for the dangerous ascent to the Hermida gorge, whose leafy precipices run parallel to the path marked by one of the most sacred rivers in the region: the Deva.

At this point, lonely in a beautiful meadow, in whose surroundings you can appreciate, to a large extent, that iron mountainous constitution, which begins to be saturated with tourists during a good part of the year, although, of course, with greater relevance during the months summer, a modest, although charming church must powerfully attract the attention of all lovers of architecture, the Romanesque, which, unlike neighboring Cantabria, in Asturias, due to various and unfortunate historical episodes, saw the loss of a large part : Saint John of Ciliergo.

This church of San Juan, which travelers hardly pay attention to, dazzled by the environment of grandeur and adventure to which they are heading, falls in love, however, with all those who know how to appreciate the beauty that always resides in rural architecture, which , although humble at first sight and devoid of exterior sculptures -unlike many others of his time and style- he flaunted his sacredness, in the past, according to an intimate communication with the Divinity and relief, not only of the countrymen who lived in the shadow of acute uncertainty about their future, involved in wars against the Muslim invader and always at the mercy of the designs of the great noble houses, but also of the long-suffering pilgrims who disembarked on the nearby coasts -such as San Vicente de la Barquera or the coves of Las Tinas, both the Major and the Minor- to face one of the most spectacular itineraries, but also the hardest and most suffered of all the pilgrimage routes that exist in Spain: the Lebanensis, which, as its name indicates, reached the heart of the Picos de Europa, the region known as Liébana and the old monastery of San Martín de Turienzo.

Despite, however, that, due to the sculptural models of the capitals inside, located at both ends of the apse main arch and which, according to experts, would make it akin to the stonemasonry workshops that prospered with some merit in the neighboring region of Villaviciosa -the old Maliayo- a glance at its structure is enough to see in it and in the rectangular shape of its apse, reminiscences of that earlier pre-Romanesque style, much more austere, but by no means less interesting, which also offers us the opportunity to contemplate the evolution of an architecture, which was not in vain considered, during a good part of the Late Middle Ages, as the indisputable style of Christianity.

In its apparent coarseness, also resides the elegance of a metaphorical symbolism, since, due to its shape, it resembles -comparatively speaking- a noetic ark stranded in a fertile meadow, which also recalls one of the metaphorical functions of the Christian clergy, as true fishers of men.

It is true, on the other hand, that the church of San Juan, like many others of its time and style, was not completely spared either, not only from the passage of time and erosion that are usually deadly for this type of architectures, but of human intransigence, which, on too many occasions, ended up making artistic, historical and cultural heritage the appropriate target for hatred and destruction.

The beautiful thing about it all, and perhaps also constitutes a beautiful metaphor, is that the earth, after all, tends to be more magnanimous than men and in the end, who knows if by gratifying themselves with their solitude, they make the pear trees in the neighboring orchard, receive the visitor, if he drops by there, around the month of July, with some truly tasty fruits, which fall ripe from the branches to the delight of the traveler who has the opportunity to taste them.

NOTICE: Both the text and the photographs that accompany it, as well as the video that illustrates it, are my exclusive intellectual property and, therefore, are subject to my Copyright.

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