THE CLOISTER, SANTA MARIA LA REAL, NAJERA

This lovely statue ( St. Agatha, I think) still bears traces of its polychrome decoration.  The cloister is full of delicate tracery, and remarkably can be precisely dated to 1517-18.  The church was founded on the site of one of the miraculous discoveries which permeate the folklore of Spain.  Here's a short version of the story.

Legend has it that the king, while hunting, released his hawk in pursuit of a partridge. He lost both birds and went in their search among the surrounding trees, while looking he encountered a cave from which came a great glow. Inside he found his prey and a mysterious image of the Virgin with a Child, a vase of lilies, a bell and a lamp. After conquering the town of Calahorra from the Muslims, the king ordered the construction of the monastery as an offering to the Virgin who had helped him.*

But while you're looking at the carving, don't forget to  look at the surround, the acanthus leaves scrolling around the base and the little cherub above!

GEESE ENTWINED

The south entrance to the Iglesia del Crucifijo was my introduction to Spanish folk art; so many of the carvings on these medieval churches seem to have very little to do with doctrine, and a lot to do with nature.  That is fine by me. This capital has been heavily restored  i.e. reproduced, but the "R" incised into the stone is also the work of an honest craftsman.  "Restaurado".

I love these geese and the pine cones.  I hadn't even noticed the latter until today.  These kinds of little details must have been noticed much more readily by people who spent a lifetime of churchgoing and never going anywhere else.  Those of us who are just passing through miss a lot.

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ALONG THE CAMINO

The next few posts will be populated by images from my walk along the Camino Frances in 2008.

This one features a rather winsome gargoyle from the Iglesia del Cruifijo in Puente de la Reina, a day's walk from Pamplona.  The swallows don't seem to find him too frightening!

THE HAND OF THE CRAFTSMAN

Vast, monumental, but never monolithic, churches, temples, places of worship are always the work of many hands.  Many of those hands were not only highly skilled but artistic and, sometimes, touched with genius. Mostly, we see the forest, but every now and then we pause to notice the beauty of a single tree.  So it is with the work of these nameless ones.   They leave their anonymous mark on our souls.  This mostly photographic blog is dedicated to the traces they've left in the architecture, looking not for personal glory but to the glory of being part of a grand effort.  In Paul Simon's "Under African Skies",  Joseph sees "Angels in the architecture, spinning in infinity"'; so too are their earthly creators; unknown but near-immortal.