ABBEY CHURCH

DISAPPEARED MEDIEVAL CHURCHES

Several churches were built between the 10th and 13th centuries, of which only a few architectural remains remain in the basement of the present church and various decorative elements in the monastery museum. All that remains of the last Romanesque construction is the southern arm of the transept, which is now a transit area to the sacristy, the Baroque chapel dedicated to Saint Dominic, and the Portal of the Virgins, which leads from the transept to the cloister.

Despite these few remains, the later churches of Silos which have disappeared, have attracted the interest of art historians in order to determine the chronology and construction history of the monastery and its relevance for understanding the architecture of the Christian kingdoms in these centuries. The archaeological and architectural remains, the various documentary references and the plans drawn up when the medieval buildings were destroyed to build the neoclassical church have all made it possible for researchers to draw up various chronological proposals and construction stages, as well as the reconstruction of the architectural spaces.

The various churches whose alterations and extensions were superimposed on one another are summarised below. The first pre-Romanesque church from the 10th century, of which little remains in the subsoil, possibly had a small rectangular nave, with a possible door on the facing wall and in the southern wall and a square chancel. In the middle of the 11th century, with the arrival of Dominic and the renovation of the monastery, a new church of larger dimensions was built: a church with three naves and four bays, divided by circular pillars, and a triple apse chevet, semicircular on the inside and straight on the outside. This probably had several doorways on its three façades, connecting those on the south wall with the cloister.

The first Romanesque intervention, carried out between the end of the 11th and the early years of the 12th centuries, involved the eastern extension of the church, replacing the previous chevet with a new one formed by three semicircular apses and a nave that is likely to have had an octagonal dome according to documentary references. This Romanesque extension is the so-called high or eastern church, which complemented the pre-Romanesque western low church. The second Romanesque intervention centred on the construction of the transept between 1120 and 1130, of which the southern wing is still preserved today. On its western side is the Portal of the Virgins, which leads to the cloister.

Towards the middle of the 12th century, the western part of the old pre-Romanesque temple was extended, with two new sections and a façade on the facing wall, of which there are references in old plans. The tower on the north side is likely to have been built at this time.

The last Romanesque interventions, carried out in the last three decades of the 12th century, consisted of the construction of a portico on the north side of the church, which connected to the centre of the village. Its existence is confirmed by the large number of archaeological remains, documentary and planimetric references. The tympanum that connected this space to the church is part of the monastery’s museum collection.

TODAY’S CHURCH

The current church of the Abbey of Silos is neoclassical, designed with sobriety and following classical proportions that confer harmony, balance and provide an atmosphere of serenity. The exposed stonework contributes to this, following the 1963 cleaning of the plaster that covered it in its entirety. At that time, the organisation of the church space was adapted to the conditions for liturgical celebrations established by the Second Vatican Council.

Ventura Rodríguez designed the church in 1751-1752, given the threat of ruin to the Romanesque church. The long construction process, which lasted until 1793, and the economic difficulties significantly altered the renowned architect’s original plan. The works were directed by the architect Manuel Machuca y Vargas with the collaboration of Fray Simón Lexalde, a monastery monk who was also an architect. The church has a cruciform ground plan with a double symmetrical semicircular apse at the chancel and on the facing wall. The walls are divided by simple pilasters between which geometric plaques are placed. The planned monumental dome on a cylindrical block was not built and was replaced by a simple, undecorated hemispherical dome on pendentives. Built in 1966 on a convex wall, the doorway is reduced to an architraved opening with a superimposed triangular pediment. Of the two planned towers, only the south tower was built, with the lower bodies having a square ground plan and the upper cylindrical one with circular openings framed by columns on pilasters.

From 1964 to 1966, the entire floor of the neoclassical church was removed, uncovering numerous sculptural remains, with a practicable crypt created in the basement. Here, the remains of the pre-Romanesque and Romanesque constructions are well-preserved, which have allowed researchers to make different interpretations of their construction phases.

LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS

The church is the sacred space of the monastery where the liturgical celebrations of the community take place throughout the day: Vigils, Lauds, Eucharist, Terce, Sext, Nona, Vespers and Compline. These celebrations are open to members of the public who wish to attend.