The Treasure of Guarrazar,

Guadamur Guadamur is a municipality located in the province of Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2008 census ( INE), the municipality has a population of 1819 inhabitants. On 4 June 2007 a twinning agreement was signed with the towns of ...

Province of Toledo Toledo () is a Province (Spain), province of central Spain, in the western part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Madrid Province, Madrid, Cuenca Province (Spai ...

, Castile-La Mancha,

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, is an

archeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeology ...

find composed of twenty-six

votive crown A votive crown is a votive offering in the form of a crown, normally in precious metals and often adorned with jewels. Especially in the Early Middle Ages, they are of a special form, designed to be suspended by chains at an altar, shrine or imag ...

s and gold

cross A cross is a religious symbol consisting of two Intersection (set theory), intersecting Line (geometry), lines, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of t ...

es that had originally been offered to the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

by the Kings

Visigoth The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied barbarian military group united under the comman ...

s in the seventh century in

Hispania Hispania was the Ancient Rome, Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two Roman province, provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. During the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was divide ...

, as a gesture of the orthodoxy of their faith and their submission to the ecclesiastical hierarchy. The most valuable of all is the votive crown of king

Recceswinth Recceswinth (died 1 September 672) was the Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania in 649–672. He ruled jointly with his father Chindaswinth until his father's death in 653. Name His Gothic name is believed to have been *𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌺 ...

with its blue

sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, cobalt, lead, chromium, vanadium, magnesium, boron, and silicon. The name ''sapphire ...

s from

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

and

pendilia Pendilia (singular pendilium; from Latin ''pendulus'', hanging) or pendoulia (the Greek equivalent), are pendants or dangling ornaments hanging from a piece of metalwork such as a crown, votive crown, crux gemmata, or kamelaukion, and are a fea ...

. Though the treasure is now divided and much has disappeared, it represents the best surviving group of Early Medieval Christian votive offerings. The treasure, which represents the high point of Visigothic goldsmith's work, was dug between 1858 and 1861 in an orchard called ''Guarrazar'', in

, very close to

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Or ...

. The treasure was divided, with some objects going to the

Musée de Cluny The Musée de Cluny (), officially Musée de Cluny-Musée National du Moyen Âge (), is a museum of medieval art in Paris. It is located in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, bordered by square Samuel-Paty to the south, boulevard Saint-Michel to t ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and the rest to the armouries of the

Palacio Real The Royal Palace of Madrid () is the official residence of the Spanish royal family at the city of Madrid, although now used only for state ceremonies. The palace has of floor space and contains 3,418 rooms. It is the largest royal palace in Eu ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

(today in the

National Archaeological Museum of Spain The National Archaeological Museum (; MAN) is a archaeology museum in Madrid, Spain. It is located on Calle de Serrano beside the Plaza de Colón, sharing its building with the National Library of Spain. It is one of the National Museums of ...

). In 1921 and 1936, some items of the Treasure of Guarrazar were stolen and have disappeared. Some comparable Visigothic

filigree Filigree (also less commonly spelled ''filagree'', and formerly written ''filigrann'' or ''filigrene'') is a form of intricate metalwork used in jewellery and other small forms of metalwork. In jewellery, it is usually of gold and silver, m ...

gold was found in 1926 at

Torredonjimeno Torredonjimeno is a city and municipality of Spain located in the province of Jaén, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. According to the 2020 census ( INE), the city had a population of 13,632 inhabitants, with 6,954 males and 7,172 female ...

in the province of

Jaén Jaén may refer to: Places Peru *Jaén Province, Peru, a province in Cajamarca Region, Peru ** Jaén District, one of twelve districts of the province Jaén in Peru ***Jaén, Peru, a city in Peru, capital of the Jaén Province Philippines * Jaen ...

, consisting of fragments of votive crowns and crosses.Described and compared in Alicia Perea, "Visigothic filigree in the Guarrazar (Toledo) and Torredonjimeno (Jaén) treasures," ''Historic Metallurgy'' 40.1 (2006).

Description

The jewellery found at Guarrazar is part of a continuous tradition of Iberian metalworking that goes back to prehistoric times. These Visigothic works were influenced by the Byzantines, but the techniques of gem encrustation found at Guarrazar were practised throughout the Germanic world and the style of the lettering was Germanic too. The crowns were never meant to be worn by the kings. They were gifts to the church, to be hung above the altar. The most valuable remaining pieces of the find are the two royal votive crowns: one of King Recceswinth and one of King

Suinthila Suintila, or ''Suinthila'', ''Swinthila'', ''Svinthila''; ( 588 – 633/635) was Visigothic King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia from 621 to 631. He was a son of Reccared I and his wife Bado, and a brother of the general Geila. Under Suinti ...

. Both are made of gold, encrusted with sapphires, pearls, and other precious stones. Suinthila's crown was stolen in 1921 and never recovered. There are several other small crowns and many votive crosses. There were belts in the original find as well, but these have since vanished. These findings, together with other of some neighbors and with the archaeological excavation of the Ministry of Public Works and the Royal Academy of History (April 1859), formed a group consisting of: *

: six crowns, five crosses, a pendant and remnants of foil and channels (almost all of gold). *

Royal Palace of Madrid The Royal Palace of Madrid () is the official residence of the Spanish royal family at the city of Madrid, although now used only for state ceremonies. The palace has of floor space and contains 3,418 rooms. It is the largest royal palace in Eu ...

: a crown and a gold cross and a stone engraved with the

Annunciation The Annunciation (; ; also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord; ) is, according to the Gospel of Luke, the announcement made by the archangel Gabriel to Ma ...

. A crown, and other fragments of a

tiller A tiller or till is a lever used to steer a vehicle. The mechanism is primarily used in watercraft, where it is attached to an outboard motor, rudder post, rudder post or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn ...

with a crystal ball were stolen from the Royal Palace of Madrid in 1921 and its whereabouts are still unknown. * National Museum of the Middle Ages,

: three crowns, two crosses, links and gold pendants. There were also many fragments of sculptures and the remains of a building, perhaps a Roman

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...

or place of purification. After its rededication as a place of Christian worship - either a church or oratory -, it housed a number of graves. A skeleton lying on a bed of lime and sand was found in the best preserved grave. Its well-preserved stone slate has a Latin inscription that mentions a priest named Crispín, dating from 693 (year of the

Sixteenth Council of Toledo The Sixteenth Council of Toledo first met in Toledo, Spain on 25 April 693. It was the second of three councils convened by Visigothic king Egica. In 692, the archbishop of Toledo, Sisebert, led a rebellion with many nobles to install one Sunief ...

). This slate is now in the National Archeological Museum of Spain in Madrid. The inscription on the Sónnica cross, a piece preserved in Paris, gives an indication about the name of this church. According to some hypothesis, the monastery of Santa Maria de Sorbaces of Guarrazar served as a hideout for the real treasure of the court, Toledo churches and monasteries to prevent their capture by the

Islamic conquest The Muslim conquests, Muslim invasions, Islamic conquests, including Arab conquests, Arab Islamic conquests, also Iranian Muslim conquests, Turkic Muslim conquests etc. *Early Muslim conquests ** Ridda Wars **Muslim conquest of Persia *** Muslim co ...

Notes

References

* * * * * * *Perea, Alicia. ''El tesoro visigodo de Guarrazar'' (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas), 2001. * File:Tesoro de Guarrazar (M.A.N. Inv.71204) 01.jpg, One of the votive crowns. File:Tesoro de Guarrazar (M.A.N. Inv. 71208 & 71209) 01.jpg, Votive crown and cross. File:Tesoro de Guarrazar (M.A.N. Inv.71210) 01b.jpg, Votive cross. File:Tesoro de Guarrazar (M.A.N. Inv. 71207 & 71211) 01a.jpg, Votive crown and cross. File:Gran Cruz de Guarrazar (M.A.N. Inv.52561) 01.jpg, The ''Great Cross''.

External links

The Art of medieval Spain, A.D. 500-1200
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Treasure of Guarrazar (p. 53-59) *

* Musée National du Moyen Âge, Hôtel de Cluny

{{Authority control Archaeological sites in Spain 7th century in the Visigothic Kingdom 7th-century artifacts Treasure troves in Spain Treasure troves of Medieval Europe Visigothic art Germanic archaeological artifacts Christian art Medieval art Votive offering Gold objects Individual crowns Collection of the National Archaeological Museum, Madrid