Roussillon roman: le «prieuré» de Serrabone
For the first churchly visit of that November 2023 trip to the southern French provinces of Roussillon and Languedoc, I will treat you to a truly unique place, the so-called “priory” of Serrabone, which features an absolute world-class masterpiece of Romanesque sculpture: its tribune.
I said “so-called” above because a priory, in the genuine acception of the word, is a secondary monastery established by an abbey. It is populated by monks sent by that abbey. Those monks are led by a prior, whose superior is the abbot of the founding abbey. In the case of Serrabone, there first was a late Carolingian parochial church established in this mountainous locale and first mentioned in writing in 1069. The walls of the nave are, for some part, still those of that ancient church.
It was then, at a time when local lords used to meddle more and more in the affairs of the Church (which was one of the reasons that prompted the coming of the Gregorian reform), that the viscount of Cerdagne and the local lord of Corsavy installed on the Serrabone mountaintop an unusually mixed group of canons and canonesses to live in accordance with the Augustinian Rule.
A new college church was built (mostly by enlarging the previous one) and consecrated in 1151. Its architecture is harmonious but very simple, as one would expect: in the Middle Ages, those mountains were populated (hence the creation of the parish) and did feed their inhabitants (serra bona in Catalan means “good mountain”), but there was precious little commerce with the outside world and the locals had nothing of real value to export. Therefore, the local economy was pretty much a closed circuit and money was far from flowing in abundantly. The style of the church, even though there were donations from the aforementioned lords, reflects this paucity of financial resources.
It is therefore a total mystery how the magnificent sculpted tribune, which would have cost a veritable fortune, was funded, and by whom. Nothing has ever been demonstrated in that matter, although many have conjectured in various directions. The only certainty we have is that it was built around the time when the church itself was completed, i.e., the mid–1150s.
The culmination of the “priory” did not last very long: canons and canonesses are not monks and nuns, their commitment is found throughout history and places to be much less strong, and by the late 1200s they had already broken communal life and begun to live in their own separate homes. Decadence went to such extremes that the “priory” was secularized by the pope in the 16th century and made a dependency of the chapter of the cathedral of Solsona. The last “prior” died in 1612 and the church returned to its simple parochial status.
The place was progressively abandoned as people left the mountains to go live easier lives in the valleys. It was almost in ruins when it was listed as a Historic Landmark in 1875 and the restoration began. Fortunately, the tribune had been protected and its capitals and columns hidden by the locals.
And finally, the tribune: this is the masterpiece for which Mediævalists flock to Serrabone from all over the world. Made from local white and red marble from the Bouleternère quarries, it serves a double purpose: separate the eastern part of the nave, intended for the community of canons and canonesses from the western one, meant for the parishioners; and serve as a coro alto for religious dignitaries to sit above the rest of the congregation and address them from a high place, a function which jubés (rood screens) will address in later churches.
This side, the western one, facing the congregation, is highly decorated: it served to impress and educate through the use of images those who could not read (the immense majority of the populace back then). The colonnade at the top was rebuilt via a careful, three-year anastylosis between 1980 and 83.
The spandrels (“écoinçons”) on this face as decorated with floral motifs and a theophany in which the deity is represented by the Agnus Dei, as you will see if you zoom into the photograph.
In the background, looking through the single archway leading to the transept from the other side of the tribune, you can see the main altar. The archway to the left in the foreground leads to the northern aisle, which was also designed to accommodate the parishioners (they would enter the church via the northern portal which I will show another say). We will of course take a very close look at the magnificent historied capitals over the next few days.
The lateral walls are those of the earlier, Carolingian church (medium to large apparel of shale stones).
Roussillon roman: le «prieuré» de Serrabone
For the first churchly visit of that November 2023 trip to the southern French provinces of Roussillon and Languedoc, I will treat you to a truly unique place, the so-called “priory” of Serrabone, which features an absolute world-class masterpiece of Romanesque sculpture: its tribune.
I said “so-called” above because a priory, in the genuine acception of the word, is a secondary monastery established by an abbey. It is populated by monks sent by that abbey. Those monks are led by a prior, whose superior is the abbot of the founding abbey. In the case of Serrabone, there first was a late Carolingian parochial church established in this mountainous locale and first mentioned in writing in 1069. The walls of the nave are, for some part, still those of that ancient church.
It was then, at a time when local lords used to meddle more and more in the affairs of the Church (which was one of the reasons that prompted the coming of the Gregorian reform), that the viscount of Cerdagne and the local lord of Corsavy installed on the Serrabone mountaintop an unusually mixed group of canons and canonesses to live in accordance with the Augustinian Rule.
A new college church was built (mostly by enlarging the previous one) and consecrated in 1151. Its architecture is harmonious but very simple, as one would expect: in the Middle Ages, those mountains were populated (hence the creation of the parish) and did feed their inhabitants (serra bona in Catalan means “good mountain”), but there was precious little commerce with the outside world and the locals had nothing of real value to export. Therefore, the local economy was pretty much a closed circuit and money was far from flowing in abundantly. The style of the church, even though there were donations from the aforementioned lords, reflects this paucity of financial resources.
It is therefore a total mystery how the magnificent sculpted tribune, which would have cost a veritable fortune, was funded, and by whom. Nothing has ever been demonstrated in that matter, although many have conjectured in various directions. The only certainty we have is that it was built around the time when the church itself was completed, i.e., the mid–1150s.
The culmination of the “priory” did not last very long: canons and canonesses are not monks and nuns, their commitment is found throughout history and places to be much less strong, and by the late 1200s they had already broken communal life and begun to live in their own separate homes. Decadence went to such extremes that the “priory” was secularized by the pope in the 16th century and made a dependency of the chapter of the cathedral of Solsona. The last “prior” died in 1612 and the church returned to its simple parochial status.
The place was progressively abandoned as people left the mountains to go live easier lives in the valleys. It was almost in ruins when it was listed as a Historic Landmark in 1875 and the restoration began. Fortunately, the tribune had been protected and its capitals and columns hidden by the locals.
And finally, the tribune: this is the masterpiece for which Mediævalists flock to Serrabone from all over the world. Made from local white and red marble from the Bouleternère quarries, it serves a double purpose: separate the eastern part of the nave, intended for the community of canons and canonesses from the western one, meant for the parishioners; and serve as a coro alto for religious dignitaries to sit above the rest of the congregation and address them from a high place, a function which jubés (rood screens) will address in later churches.
This side, the western one, facing the congregation, is highly decorated: it served to impress and educate through the use of images those who could not read (the immense majority of the populace back then). The colonnade at the top was rebuilt via a careful, three-year anastylosis between 1980 and 83.
The spandrels (“écoinçons”) on this face as decorated with floral motifs and a theophany in which the deity is represented by the Agnus Dei, as you will see if you zoom into the photograph.
In the background, looking through the single archway leading to the transept from the other side of the tribune, you can see the main altar. The archway to the left in the foreground leads to the northern aisle, which was also designed to accommodate the parishioners (they would enter the church via the northern portal which I will show another say). We will of course take a very close look at the magnificent historied capitals over the next few days.
The lateral walls are those of the earlier, Carolingian church (medium to large apparel of shale stones).