Church of San Andres (Cuellar)

About

The Church of San Andrés is a Catholic church located in the town of Cuéllar, province of Segovia, in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. Located outside the walls of the town and in the neighborhood to which it gives its name, during the Middle Ages it was the head of a small suburb that over time merged with the town. Dating back to the 13th century, although, of earlier construction, it was built in stone and brick masonry, over a previous Romanesque ashlar building, of which it preserves a plinth on its main façade, as well as the front of the same façade and the Gate of San Andrés. Despite the various modifications suffered over time, it retains its original layout, reaffirmed with a complete restoration carried out during 1989–1994, after being declared a Bien de Interés Cultural in 1982. It is, without a doubt, the best example of Cuellar's Mudejar style and, in the opinion of the architect and historian Vicente Lampérez y Romea, has the best church plan of this style. It consists of a wide central nave and two smaller ones, with a triple apse decorated with a series of blind semicircular arches, framed windows, and friezes of angled arches. Inside are several...

- Building Its main doorway on the west side is a true filigree of Mudejar art. It is undoubtedly the best example of mudejar Cuellar, and is raised on a previous one, of Romanesque style. Five rows of bricks are raised from the ground, with their respective very cambered threads. On both sides, blind semicircular arches that reach the eaves complete the ensemble, all over a Romanesque doorway that preserves its respective columns and historiated capitals, dating from the beginning of the 13th century.

In the threshold, there are three prolonged brick apses, the main one being larger and more protruding, with two blind semicircular arcades in the middle; and in the upper one, two orders of windows with frames, separated by simple friezes of angled brick that are interrupted in the protruding panels. The lateral apses reduce their windows in favor of the upper arches and suppress the saw-toothed windows due to the lower overall height.

On the south façade is a stone doorway with five archivolts with bull moldings. It has a stone cornice with corbels, and the entire upper part is decorated with blind arches and friezes of angled arches.

The primitive tower was located on the opposite side from the present one and is preserved lowered to the height of the roof, occupying the sacristy of the church. The present one, located on the northwest side, is a sober tower, built in masonry and ashlar, with the corners elaborated with rope and chalk.

Using a retaining wall, the environment of San Andrés is collected, which is kept under its medieval cobblestones the cemetery of its parish. In front of the main door of the temple, there is a 15th-century stone cross, topped at the base with a skull. Adjacent to the church was built in 1797 a bakery to store the tithes of the parish. Today the following Latin inscription can be seen above the door:

Sub imperio domini nostri caroli iv hancine sancto andreae apostolo dicatam pareciam d. antonio a saez regente haec decumatum cela ad ea condena est extructa anno domini 1797.

It consists of three naves and four bays; one of them serves as a transept without protruding to the exterior and is slightly wider than the others.

Fortunately, the original Mudejar coffered ceiling, in the form of a trough, of the central nave is still hidden. Sixteen double beams and two single beams cross the nave. All of them have their corresponding carved medallions with scroll designs. Only in some of the boards that cover the openings, Mudejar details can be perceived. Over the Mudejar coffered ceiling, a Baroque vault was built, which is currently hidden under another, barrel vault, of 19th-century plasterwork, as is recalled by an inscription located on the arch of the central nave, which reads " Hízose esta obra siendo cura D. Isidoro Ibáñez Alonso, por Clemente Mesón. Año 1818 " (This work was done when D. Isidoro Ibáñez Alonso was the priest, by Clemente Mesón. Year 1818").

- Pictorial decoration It still conserves frescoes of Mudejar's work in the lateral apses, and perhaps also in the main one, hidden behind the main altarpiece. They present a geometric decoration, as well as simulate the bricks and windows of the apse, in white, red, black, and blue tones. They were restored at the end of the 20th century and are perfectly consolidated.

- Building Its main doorway on the west side is a true filigree of Mudejar art. It is undoubtedly the best example of mudejar Cuellar, and is raised on a previous one, of Romanesque style. Five rows of bricks are raised from the ground, with their respective very cambered threads. On both sides, blind semicircular arches that reach the eaves complete the ensemble, all over a Romanesque doorway that preserves its respective columns and historiated capitals, dating from the beginning of the 13th century.

In the threshold, there are three prolonged brick apses, the main one being larger and more protruding, with two blind semicircular arcades in the middle; and in the upper one, two orders of windows with frames, separated by simple friezes of angled brick that are interrupted in the protruding panels. The lateral apses reduce their windows in favor of the upper arches and suppress the saw-toothed windows due to the lower overall height.

On the south façade is a stone doorway with five archivolts with bull moldings. It has a stone cornice with corbels, and the entire upper part is decorated with blind arches and friezes of angled arches.

The primitive tower was located on the opposite side from the present one and is preserved lowered to the height of the roof, occupying the sacristy of the church. The present one, located on the northwest side, is a sober tower, built in masonry and ashlar, with the corners elaborated with rope and chalk.

Using a retaining wall, the environment of San Andrés is collected, which is kept under its medieval cobblestones the cemetery of its parish. In front of the main door of the temple, there is a 15th-century stone cross, topped at the base with a skull. Adjacent to the church was built in 1797 a bakery to store the tithes of the parish. Today the following Latin inscription can be seen above the door:

Sub imperio domini nostri caroli iv hancine sancto andreae apostolo dicatam pareciam d. antonio a saez regente haec decumatum cela ad ea condena est extructa anno domini 1797.

It consists of three naves and four bays; one of them serves as a transept without protruding to the exterior and is slightly wider than the others.

Fortunately, the original Mudejar coffered ceiling, in the form of a trough, of the central nave is still hidden. Sixteen double beams and two single beams cross the nave. All of them have their corresponding carved medallions with scroll designs. Only in some of the boards that cover the openings, Mudejar details can be perceived. Over the Mudejar coffered ceiling, a Baroque vault was built, which is currently hidden under another, barrel vault, of 19th-century plasterwork, as is recalled by an inscription located on the arch of the central nave, which reads " Hízose esta obra siendo cura D. Isidoro Ibáñez Alonso, por Clemente Mesón. Año 1818 " (This work was done when D. Isidoro Ibáñez Alonso was the priest, by Clemente Mesón. Year 1818").

- Pictorial decoration It still conserves frescoes of Mudejar's work in the lateral apses, and perhaps also in the main one, hidden behind the main altarpiece. They present a geometric decoration, as well as simulate the bricks and windows of the apse, in white, red, black, and blue tones. They were restored at the end of the 20th century and are perfectly consolidated.

From an inventory of the year 1668, we know that the main altarpiece was still conserved; however, in 1716 the present altarpiece appears. It was built at the end of the 17th century. On April 28, 1698, Sebastián de la Puerta, Juan Miren Fernández, and Pedro Capuchín, master gilders from Valladolid, undertook to gild the new altarpiece.