Santa María of Cambre: a milestone on the Camino de Santiago

Spectacular also, both as a whole and in its details, the church of Santa María de Cambre, is another genuine exponent of an artistic style, the Romanesque, which was unfolded like a tide by a convulsed Iberian Peninsula, undoubtedly influenced to a great extent by that formidable way of communication in which the Camino de Santiago became, developing in all its splendor, in the years and centuries after the discovery of the supposed remains of the Apostle in the forest of Llibredón, in the current Compostela.

Located, however, in that interesting way known as English Way or Way of the Coast, the church of Santa Maria is a true poem to beauty, whose main metric is formed, indistinctly and metaphorically speaking, by enthusiastic rhymes of harmony, balance and proportion.

Leaving for better occasion its probable relation with the Order of the Temple - in its interior a supposed hidria of Caná is conserved, that according to the legend was brought by these of Holy Land (1) -, are not few the authors who observe in the execution of its last sections, if not the hand itself, yes at least the influence and school of the one that some came to describe, absurdly, as a dark architect of the court of King Ferdinand II of León: Master Mateo himself.

This, perhaps, becomes more evident, above all, in the iconography of its main portal, located on the west side, and in some traces that recall, without a doubt, the mannerism displayed in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, highlighting, on all, the singularity of a curious character, identified, officially, as Daniel. A Daniel and the meekness of some lions, as they are exposed, far from that typical association with the terrible martyrdoms sung by Christianity and yes, perhaps, more related to a call to attention to that transcendental search of Knowledge, whose Simile, the open book that holds the character in his hands, may not make another reference to that other open book, metaphorically speaking, which is the temple itself and its complex characteristics.

This, following patterns possibly inherited from the sacred architecture developed on the other side of the Pyrenees, and introduced, as has been said, by Benedictines and Cistercians through the communication routes opened by and for the Road to the Campus Stellae, offers , as one of its main characteristics, the inclusion of four small absidiolos, that accompany the main one, making of its head, something little less than unique and singular, in the whole of the Romanesque of the old Kingdom of Galicia.

In this respect, the corbels stand out for their austerity, although, between the two small absidiolos on the left, we can see the figure of an animal -probably a lion with its head turned-, which could represent, symbolically speaking and apart from its solar nature, guardian functions, in a similar way to how two saints protect the threshold of entrance to the temple, replacing the traditional demons, like that Asmodeus who guarded the temple of Solomon and whose image surprises inside a temple, like is that of the church of Santa María Magdalena, in Rennes-le-Chateau, which has generated so much fantastic literature throughout the past century with the mysterious history of Abbe Saunier and the supposed treasure of the Merovingian kings.

Unfortunately, and as in so many other Galician temples, the motifs of some of their capitals - to which, for example, St. John Damascene called books for illiterate or silent sermons - are barely distinguishable, although, among them, there is still they appreciate an interesting psychostasis or weighing of souls, where San Miguel and a demon fight for the prize of a scale that, unlike in many other cases, seems to settle categorically for the first; others, on the contrary and perhaps as a reference to the dangers of the old cults, show little people and animals trapped by tendrils - of the latter, it is worth noting the probable influence they exerted in other regions, such as Segovia, as the Reconquista they were repopulating territories-, and of course, there are some, clearly foliaceans that, based on the classicisms of antiquity, show, nevertheless, the great knowledge that the medieval world had of its environment.

Interesting, on the other hand, is the reason for the tympanum: two angels holding something that, more than a typical chrismon, could be considered as the top of a pile, in the center of whose interior, carved in the shape of a shell, is located a magnificent Agnus Dei. Above it - the archivolt immediately above, shows an interesting set of swastikas or polisqueles - a simple rosette, however, plays with the magic of numbers, being composed of a central circle and eight around the circumference , whose addition, nine, remembers the first founders of the Order of the Temple, comparatively speaking.

Interesting, likewise, are some capitals of the interior -without forgetting several beautiful piles in the shape of a glass-, with some references of an obscene nature in what seem to be copulations between animals -remember, in this respect, the scenes of zoophilia that are located in the interior of a Zamora church where weapons were traditionally kept and knights were armed, including the famous Cid Campeador, called, precisely, Santiago de los Caballeros, and foliaceous motifs.

Precisely, above one of these, in the first columns on the right, is the inscription Michael Petrus me fecit or Miguel Pedro made me, as well as some stonemasonry marks, including those in the shape of a cross.

Notes:

(1) Like any other sacred relic, it is also multiplied, since it is known that there is one in Cana itself and another that is included in the inventory of the numerous sacred objects of all kinds, which are kept in the Holy Chamber of the cathedral of Oviedo.

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NOTICE : originally published in my blog ROMÁNICA, ENIGMAS DEL ROMÁNICO ESPAÑOL, although the majority of photographs and video are unpublished in Steemit. Both the text, as the photographs, and the video (except music, reproduced under a YouTube license), are my exclusive intellectual property. The original entry can be found at the following address: https://juancar347-romanica.blogspot.com.es/2015/01/santa-maria-de-cambre.html

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