15/06/2016

Discover Ourense XXXIV: Saint Michael Mozarabic Chapel in the Monastery of San Salvador, Celanova

Postcard 40 features a gem of a chapel dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel and located in the garden of the Monastery of San Salvador in Celanova, a town of 6,000 inhabitants located 23 km from Ourense.

Location of Celanova in the province of Ourense. Wikipedia

The Monastery of San Salvador is Celanova’s most important building in a well-preserved historical center. It was founded by St. Rudesind (San Rosendo) in 936. The nave is considered the most perfect Galician Baroque church.

Monastery of San Salvador de Celanova. Main façade. Galicia en fotos.com

Cloister Monastery of San Salvador de Celanova. Residenciabarroso.com
Saint Michael’s Chapel happens to be one of the best preserved pre-Romanesque monuments in Spain.

Capilla de San Miguel. Celanova. Absoluteourense.com
Completed in the year 942 (10th century), the chapel has a Mozarabic style and consists of a nave, from where it is accessed, with a barrel vault, the central body  crowned by an inner brick cross vault, and a prominent outer overhang, and an apse, square on the outside and round in the inside, topped by a dome.

Capela de San Miguel. Turismo.gal
Despite its small windows, the chapel’s interior is incredibly luminous. In fact, its orientation is such that it captures the light of the rising sun at the equinoxes of spring and autumn.

Espectacular equinoccio Capilla de San Miguel. LaRegion,es
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