• CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA
  • The church
  • The Front Façade
  • The Abbot's tower
• CHURCH OF SAN JUAN
  • 1st Period
  • 2nd Period
  • 3rd Period
  • The Rerados Pieces

CHURCH OF DAN JUAN: 1st Period. The 12th - 13th centuries

In the beginning Laguardia seemed to avail of several temples for praying. One of these temples stands out among he rest. It was consecrated to Saint Martin and made the official temple for vow making.

Some years after the granting of the “fuero” the building of the Church of “San Juan” was started, in the same style as that of “San Martin” . It was at its porch where the meetings of the mayor, juries and town council were held. Some open town meetings were also held inside, being attended by the inhabitants.

It has a Latin Cross floor plan whose arms are of different sizes, so as to be adapted to the fortifications. There are two segments of the nave, also with different heights, and three apses. A beautiful chapel of the 17 th century is right at the foot of this church.

The building of the temple was started during the Romanesque period and was finished within the Gothic one.

The nave is 17.50 metres high, 34.10 metres long and 17.35 metres wide, and the transept is 29.80 metres wide.

The South Façade

Transitional Romanesque: From the end of the 12 th century to the beginning of the 13 th , with a clear French influence.It is made up of five archivolts formed by staff beads. It has pointed arches inside and it is nearly round outside.

Two columns remain on the left nowadays, whose shafts are completely sculptured: one with palm leaves and the other one with flowers forming square patterns. The capitals of these columns show the transition towards the Gothic style. Here there are sculptured animals, intertwined with tree branches.

On the right there are two statues representing the “Annunciation”, the Angel and the Virgin. They  are two beautiful images, above all that of the Virgin, with more thorough, painstaking details, although they are smaller to make room for two angels over the Virgin's head crowning her.

The capitals on the right are fully Romanesque. The capital of the statue of the Virgin represents her “Dormition”. Two winged angels are holding her shrouded body whereas Jesus, with a venerable look, is taking her soul away, symbolised by a little girl.

The “Oculo"

t is decorated, both outside and inside, with small figures. Inside, it appears embedded into a deep arch of a thick wall.

The making of the town walls meant the building of the Gothic part of this church in such a way as  we can see it nowadays.

The church is a part of the fortified enclosure and due to its location it was intended to defend one of the most accessible ways into the town. Therefore it was organised to adapt itself to the space and to the double mission that it was intended to fulfil.

The church of “San Juan”, the walls and the large fortified tower are a constructional unit. This factor shows that they are contemporaneous with each other and they were devised as a temple-fortress for the defence of the southwest side of the enclosure.

Ayuntamiento de Laguardia
Guardiako Udala
© 2005