User:CNMall41/Crypt of San Antolín

The Crypt of San Antolín is a Visigothic crypt located underneath the Palencia Cathedral in Palencia, Spain.

San Antolín

The crypt was rebuilt under Sancho III of Pamplona.

On the site where the crypt and the Cathedral of Palencia are now located, there existed in ancient times a temple of pagan worship which, according to historians Juan Agapito y Revilla, Francisco Simón Nieto and others, would have been succeeded by a paleo-Christian temple from Roman times, made which seems to agree with the Roman traces existing outside, at the same level. In front of the pre-Romanesque temple is the old Visigothic chapel from the middle of the 7th century, built during the reign of Wamba to preserve the remains of the martyr Saint Antolín (Antonin de Pamiers), a Gallo-Visigoth noble brought from Narbonne to Hispania in 672 or 673 by Wamba himself. These are the only remains of the Visigoth cathedral of Palencia.1 Thus, the oldest vestige of worship that is preserved today is the bottom of the crypt, a building that dates back to the mid-7th century. The remains of Antolín, a Gallo-Visigoth nobleman, saint and martyr, would have arrived in the procession of King Wamba from Narbonne in the year 673. Would Wamba himself order the burial to be built? Some historians are investigating to answer this question.

An off-centre arch connects the Visigothic basement space with the Romanesque extension, with an exit to the center of the apse. For some authors, such as Helmut Schlunk, the Crypt is the martyrium (a Latin word that means martyrdom and also the burial of the martyr).2 Therefore, it is believed that it is the place that keeps the relics of Saint Antolín, but other historians doubt it. First restoration

The Palencia diocese being lost after the Muslim occupation, it was not restored until King Sancho III the Greater himself entrusted the bishop of Palencia Pontius with the organization of it. According to legend, the king came across the ruins while hunting a wild boar and received the revelation to restore the small church.

Having recently discovered the Visigothic ruins that housed the remains of the martyr, the place would have been chosen as the site of the episcopal see. After the restoration and expansion of the place of martyrdom, the new building was consecrated with the presence of the King and several bishops in the year 1035. Archaeological research has shown that the original crypt had, in addition to the remains that can be seen today, other rooms. semi-detached Incorporation into the cathedral

Already in the 12th century, a Romanesque temple was built, which respected the underground part of the crypt, later adding other constructions, both Romanesque, Gothic and Plateresque, which represents the current configuration of the Cathedral of Palencia. Description

According to Pablo López de Osaba, the crypt was built on an ancient Roman building. The oldest visible part of the crypt is the Visigothic work from the second half of the 7th century. This primitive church was expanded in the 11th century, in the early Romanesque era and is an example of the first Castilian Romanesque.

The Crypt falls within the "cellar typology".3​ The plan is rectangular, irregular and elongated, measuring 3x11 m, with a flat roof. It is built on several transverse horseshoe arches, which start from the lateral basement, as is usual in underground buildings. The east wall - the header - is the most modern. It is decorated in front with three openings of very small Visigoth horseshoe arches, which open onto two columns with very worn Corinthian capitals and ancient bases. The north and south walls have doors with Visigothic arches. Plant

Two areas can be differentiated:

The Visigothic from the 7th century, the most eastern, covered with a semicircular barrel vault, topped by an apse with columns. The pre-Romanesque from the 11th century, with a rectangular floor plan with a single nave, 17 meters long by 7 meters wide, with four sections, covered with a barrel vault, supported by transverse arches supported by thick ashlars that act as pilasters on the side walls, finished along the straight section of the Presbytery and the Apse.

It constitutes an example of the Castilian pre-Romanesque.

In its construction, good quality ashlar of varied sizes, well rigged, was used. Chapel and statue of San Antolín.