Hermitage of San Baudelio de Berlanga

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The Hermitage of San Baudelio de Berlanga (Ermita de San Baudelio de Berlanga) is an early 11th-century church at Caltojar in the province of Soria, Castile and León, Spain, 8 km south of Berlanga de Duero. It is an important example of Mozarabic architecture for its peculiarities, and was built in the 11th century, in what was then the frontier between Islamic and Christian lands. It is dedicated to Saint Baudilus or Baudel. The construction of the hermitage is part of the period of the definitive consolidation of the Christian kingdoms throughout this area, which takes place around the year 1060, when the taking takes place, by Ferdinand I of León, of several towns including Berlanga.

Declared a national monument in 1917, The Hermitage of San Baudelio de Berlanga is thought to have been built to honor Saint Baudilus, or San Baudelio as he is known in Spanish. Saint Baudilus was a monk who lived during the second or third century in Nîmes and is mentioned in two twelfth-century documents.

Legends about Saint Baudilus say that he earned the crown of martyrdom after preaching the gospel to local townspeople celebrating the birth of Jupiter, and that after his execution by decapitation with an axe, wells sprang up at the location of his death. It is unknown what direct connection San Baudelio had with this chapel made in his honor, if any, though the movement of the cult of San Baudelio into Spain was probably responsible for its creation. Saint Baudilus died in the late third or fourth century.

A small adjoining cave is still accessible inside the southwestern wall of the sanctuary, where a hermit may have lived at one point, and locals still make pilgrimage to a freshwater spring near the church each year on May 20 (his feast day) to pay respects to Saint Baudilus, who also had miraculous cures named after him in earlier centuries. An axe and a palm tree are the symbols of his martyrdom, and the palm can be seen as a direct inspiration to the unique architecture of San Baudelio de Berlanga.

In the tenth century as the power of the Moors was diminishing in the North, it is probable that a hermit monk took refuge in the lonely cave in the Spanish countryside. His status could have drawn visitors with offerings and companionship, which may have been the catalyst for the building of the hermitage church. At the approximate time of the building of the chapel, local craftsmen, mostly from Castile, would have been Mozarabs. This would account for the heavy Mozarabic influence on the architecture. Also, San Baudelio closely correlates with a church pictured in the Codex Vigilanus (A. D. 976), approximating the construction of the hermitage to the late tenth or early eleventh century.

One of the most remarkable aspects is its pictorial decoration, as it is one of the important examples of Romanesque painting in Spain. Only a few remains of tempera painting remain, since the originals were torn and exported in 1926 to different museums of the United States despite the protection of the hermitage as « national monument » of Spain in 1917 generating a huge scandal since the uprooting was considered to be looting. ( Cincinnati Museum of Art, New York Cloisters Museum, Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Indianapolis Museum of Art ). Some are also in the Prado Museum, specifically six scenes. Of the paintings that came out to United States we have: The Dromedary, The healing of the blind and The resurrection of Lazarus, The Temptation of Christ, The three Marys before the tomb, The Holy Supper, The wedding of Cana, Entrance to Jerusalem and the Falconer. In 1957 the Spanish government exchanged some of these paintings for the Fuentidueña Apse of the Romanesque church of San Martín of the Castilian town of Fuentidueña, which today is preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, the paintings thus acquired were deposited in the Prado Museum. Among those found in Spain we have: Hunt deer, Hare hunting, The warrior, The elephant, The bear and The hunter. In 1965 the works of restoration of the paintings that were still in the church and that had not been removed were carried out.

No records provide evidence of the construction of the church, but it is apparent that it belongs to the group of Mozarabic churches built throughout northern Spain during the tenth and eleventh centuries. San Baudelio sets itself apart from the rest of the architecture in the Castile region because it is an uncommon example of the Mozarabic style, rather than the much more numerous examples of Moorish influenced architecture from Andalusia, which are found farther west in León.

The lack of information on the church force it to be dated based on its architectural influences and construction, as well as through the paintings that once lined the interior of the small chapel.

San Baudelio de Berlanga is a relatively plain building on the outside, being mostly square with a small, nearly square apse adjoining its east side. The walls of the entire structure are made of rough native stone, and its exterior offers no decoration whatsoever. The interior, however, is very distinctive, and has been described as "The most Mohammedan church in the whole of Spain."

The entrance to San Baudelio de Berlanga is a single horseshoe-arched door on the north wall of the building, which leads directly into the nave of the church. Upon entering the hermitage, visitors are greeted by a large circular pillar that rises to the vaults of the apse. From the top of the pillar project eight ribbed arches, which are supported at the four corners and middle of the walls of the church. These arches are horseshoe forms with corner ribs supported by small Moorish inspired squinches.

Similar to the palm tree, which symbolizes Saint Baudilus, it is not unlikely that this central column was designed by an architect to represent a palm tree, attribute of the Saint. Atop the pillar, in between the sprouting arches, is a small cavity, which is believed to be a place where treasures of the church or relics of its saint were once secured. The interior of this space is ribbed in Moorish style, with crisscrossing arches around a domed top, similar to the vaulted dome of the nearby hermitage of San Miguel Almazan.

Another unusual feature of San Baudelio de Berlanga is its gallery, which spans the interior side of the west wall. This tribune is constructed of a double row of horseshoe arches, which support a Choir area on the second floor, accessible by the stairs on the south wall. Projecting into the nave, and supported by the tribune, is a small oratory, which sits directly against the nave's central pillar. This small chapel is barrel vaulted, and has a window on either of its sides. It is no larger than a pulpit.

The apsidal chapel, which joins the main building on its eastern side, is accessible through another horseshoe arched doorway, and sits four steps higher than the floor of the nave. At its back wall is a small loophole shaped window, which until it was closed off, would have allowed morning light to enter the chapel. This room is also barrel vaulted, and almost identical in size and shape to the chapel of the hermitage of San Cruz at Maderuelo.

One other unique aspect of San Baudelio de Berlanga is its connection to a small cave that lies under the hill on which the church sits. Access to this cave is gained through a doorway under the tribune, against the south wall. This is the cave in which a hermit may have lived at one time, possibly before the construction of the church.

The only natural means of light in the church would have been through the open doorway on the North wall, a now closed up window also found on the North wall, or a small window on the West wall that was converted from a doorway, which would have been an alternate entrance into the oratory.

Elements of San Baudelio, like the double rows of pillars and arches, recall the stylistic elements of the Great Mosque of Cordova. The ribbed arches, squinches or niches beneath the arches, and the method of construction in the lantern are all apparently derived from areas like Syria, Mesopotamia, and Armenia in the Near East. It is important to note though, that not all the oriental aesthetics that occur in Spanish churches were introduced by the Moors. Many had already been introduced to Spain during Visigothic times through its commercial and ecclesiastical connections with the Near East. The use of rectangular frames around arches and intersecting ribbed vaults at San Baudelio was originally inspired by the extension of the mosque of Cordoba by Al-Hakam II, and it can also be seen in the church at San Millan de La Cogolla.

The hermitage housed many fine Romanesque frescoes from about 1125; most of these have been removed, but some have remained. Two sections, transferred to canvas, are now in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, showing the Entry of Christ into Jerusalem and the Wedding at Cana. Other sections, including The Healing of the Blind Man and the Raising of Lazarus and The Temptation of Christ are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and in the Prado. The paintings are considered the work of three anonymous local artists. All decorative motifs on arches and vaults, as well as the large biblical scenes and the paintings on the apse, are attributed to the Master of Maderuelos, or First Master of Casillas. The hunting scenes of the lower areas, which are the most original, are attributed to the Master of San Baudelio. A third master of more modest proficiency is considered the author of the paintings inside the choir. [The paintings were done by the Catalan Master of Tahull (Taüll in Catalan), whose best known works are in Sant Climent de Taüll and the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona, with two other painters.]? The scenes of the Life of Christ are unusual in Spanish painting at this period; these are in American museums, while smaller elements including scenes of hunting and falconry and decorative copies of textiles are in Madrid as well as New York. The frescoes include that of a camel and of a war elephant, which were inspired by Muslim motifs.

Originally every part of the church was covered with some kind of decoration. We can still see some of the remaining art work even though it has been eroded because of neglect or water seeping through the walls and loosening the plaster. Twenty-two compositions were removed from the church and brought to the United States and the Museo del Prado Madrid. Compared to other churches in Western Europe with painted interiors, San Baudelio is one of the best preserved from the Romanesque period. There are three main sections of decoration: the first two are narratives and secular motifs ; the large compositions from the vaults and the walls from the main body of the building; these have been largely removed. The third group, too damaged to be removed, are left inside the small oratory of the tribune.

Under the lunette of the apse, there are two figures sitting under arches: St. Nicholas on the left of the window and Saint Baudilus at the right. We know it is Saint Baudilus because of the inscription BAVDILI(VS) even though some of the lower part of the image is missing. St. Nicholas is identified by the inscription (NICOL)AVS and under him the words IN D€I NOMINE can be seen. St. Nicholas is depicted sitting on a pillowed chair with a luminous cloud or a halo surrounding him. Some of his features include tonsured white hair and beard, an alb, a red mantle over the alb, and sandals. He is holding a crozier in his left hand and his right palm is raised outward. Both figures are placed against a striped background of what looks like faded teal green, pale red, forest green, yellow, and dark red. Under the window appears a long-legged, long necked bird, with a white body, and yellow and red wings. The ibis is painted against a dark red background, below it is inscribed:... E... AVLA DE(I).

Around the seventeenth century the interior of the church was completely white washed due to the severe state of deterioration of the murals. But, a single piece was eventually found and transferred to canvas and it is still possible to identify the figure.