The Serrablo Churches (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

: Iglesias del Serrablo) ( Aragonese: Ilesias de Sarrablo) are a group of early-romanesque and

mozarabic Mozarabic may refer to: *Andalusi Romance, also called the Mozarabic language *Mozarabs The Mozarabs (from ), or more precisely Andalusi Christians, were the Christians of al-Andalus, or the territories of Iberia under Muslim rule from 711 to ...

churches located in small villages of

Alto Gállego Alto Gállego ( Aragonese: ''Alto Galligo'') is a comarca located in the north of the autonomous community of Aragón, Spain. It occupies practically the entirety of the upper basin of the Río Gállego. Historically the comarca was a part of ...

(

Huesca Huesca (; ) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon between 1096 and 1118. It is also the capital of the Spanish Huesca (province), ...

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

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 ...

). The churches are thought to have been built by the

presence in the area between the

10th Tenth may refer to: Numbers * 10th, the ordinal form of the number ten * One tenth, , or 0.1, a fraction, one part of a unit divided equally into ten parts. ** the SI prefix deci- ** tithe, a one-tenth part of something * 1/10 of any unit of me ...

and

11th century The 11th century is the period from 1001 (represented by the Roman numerals MI) through 1100 (MC) in accordance with the Julian calendar, and the 1st century of the 2nd millennium. In the history of Europe, this period is considered the early ...

, a time in which Serrablo was bordered by the

moorish The term Moor is an exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a single, distinct or self-defi ...

state of

Al-Andalus Al-Andalus () was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most o ...

. These churches (as identified by the regional comarca) are: ''San Bartolomé de Gavín, Santa Eulalia de Susín, San Pedro de Larrade, San Andrés de Satue, San Juan de Orús, San Pedro de Lasieso, San Juan de Busa, Santa Eulalia de Orós Bajo, San Martín de Olivan, Santa María de

Isún de Basa Isún de Basa is a village under the local government of the municipality of Sabiñánigo, Alto Gállego, Huesca, Aragon, Spain. References

Populated places in the Province of Huesca Sabiñánigo {{huesca-geo-stub ...

, San Juan y Santa María Espierre, San Martín de Ordovés, San Miguel de Orna, Monasterio de San Pelay, Iglesia de los Santos Reyes de Javierrelatre y San Miguel de

Latre Latre (Spanish pronunciation: Alveolar_tap.html" ;"title="atAlveolar tap">ɾe is a locality situated in the municipality of Caldearenas (Alto Gállego, Huesca, Aragon, Spain). In 2019, it had a population of 20 inhabitants. References

, San Salvador de Basarán.''

Architectural Features

The churches share many notable features, most of them (with a notable exception of ''San Juan de Busa'') have a small rectangular nave, an

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

, and a slim

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

. Their windows consist of 1-3

horseshoe arches The horseshoe arch (; ), also called the Moorish arch and the keyhole arch, is a type of arch in which the circular curve is continued below the horizontal line of its diameter, so that the opening at the bottom of the arch is narrower than the ar ...

framed with a rectangular

alfiz The alfiz (, from Andalusi Arabic ''alḥíz'', from Standard Arabic ''alḥáyyiz'', meaning 'the container';Al ...

, features that are commonly found in religious

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic buildings such as the

Great Mosque of Kairouan The Great Mosque of Kairouan (), also known as the Mosque of Uqba (), is a mosque situated in the UNESCO World Heritage town of Kairouan, Tunisia and is one of the largest Islamic monuments in North Africa. Established by the Arab general U ...

. Akin to their windows, the typical door consists of a light

horseshoe arch The horseshoe arch (; ), also called the Moorish arch and the keyhole arch, is a type of arch in which the circular curve is continued below the horizontal line of its diameter, so that the opening at the bottom of the arch is narrower than the ar ...

and a rectangular

alfiz The alfiz (, from Andalusi Arabic ''alḥíz'', from Standard Arabic ''alḥáyyiz'', meaning 'the container';Al ...

. Their

s (and occasionally their

towers A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

) contain vertically set cylindrical stones, or ''baquetones,'' which are unique to the region.

Apses In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In Byzanti ...

always contain an odd number of arches because this means one arch is in the middle.

Friends of Serrablo

In 1971, the association of Friends of Serrablo was created by local historians with the goal of restoring churches in the face of ruin and preserving local culture. The Serrablo churches (with the exception of San Pedro de Lárrede in 1931) were declared Spanish properties of cultural interest with help from Friends of Serrablo in 1982. Their work merited them a Gold Medal for Fine Arts in 1985, and a

Europa Nostra award Europa may refer to: Places * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Cliffs, Alexan ...

in 2002 among others.{{Cite web, title=Nosotros {{! Asociación Amigos de Serrablo, url=https://www.serrablo.org/nosotros/, access-date=2021-04-29, language=es, archive-date=2021-04-30, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430054708/https://www.serrablo.org/nosotros/, url-status=live

References

Tourist attractions in Aragon

Architectural Features

Friends of Serrablo

See also

References