España romanica: San Pantaleon de Losa
The hermitage church of San Pantaleon de Losa is assuredly the most unforgettable of this whole trip, not for its own architectural features but for the unique and truly memorable natural site chosen for the erection of this very small Romanesque church from the late 1100s.
Imagine an enormous outcrop of rock, a giant cliff rising above the surrounding plain like the prow of some alien ship, and perched atop this gigantic spear of stone, the hermitage church... Driving up the extremely steep and narrow (not to mention totally devoid of any guardrails!) track that leads to the parking lot, halfway up the jutting rock, will leave you some memories of fast heartbeats... and driving down the same will leave you even more! Then, the rest of the slope one must climb on foot (with photo backpack and tripod) is even steeper, but the reward is worth the difficulty of the ascent.
The decorative archivolt around the portal features those two very strange characters that seem trapped within. One exhibits a very sad face and the other appears downright dead!
None of the sources I have consulted, included my Zodiaque book Castille romane, has been able to provide any sensible explanation for these motifs. The Zodiaque book refers to the fact that they could be “prisoners”, but nothing more, and that doesn’t help us much.
Another mystery from the deep night of bygone centuries, never to be elucidated in this life, most likely...
España romanica: San Pantaleon de Losa
The hermitage church of San Pantaleon de Losa is assuredly the most unforgettable of this whole trip, not for its own architectural features but for the unique and truly memorable natural site chosen for the erection of this very small Romanesque church from the late 1100s.
Imagine an enormous outcrop of rock, a giant cliff rising above the surrounding plain like the prow of some alien ship, and perched atop this gigantic spear of stone, the hermitage church... Driving up the extremely steep and narrow (not to mention totally devoid of any guardrails!) track that leads to the parking lot, halfway up the jutting rock, will leave you some memories of fast heartbeats... and driving down the same will leave you even more! Then, the rest of the slope one must climb on foot (with photo backpack and tripod) is even steeper, but the reward is worth the difficulty of the ascent.
The decorative archivolt around the portal features those two very strange characters that seem trapped within. One exhibits a very sad face and the other appears downright dead!
None of the sources I have consulted, included my Zodiaque book Castille romane, has been able to provide any sensible explanation for these motifs. The Zodiaque book refers to the fact that they could be “prisoners”, but nothing more, and that doesn’t help us much.
Another mystery from the deep night of bygone centuries, never to be elucidated in this life, most likely...