Palacio de los Reyes de Navarra (Estella)
Encyclopedia
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
; it is the Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
former royal palace
Royal Palace
** Palace of Nakhchivan Khans, Nakhchivan* Belgium: Royal Palace of Brussels* Brazil** Paço Imperial** Paço de São Cristóvão** Summer Palace* Bulgaria: Royal Palace, today housing the National Art Gallery* Cambodia: Royal Palace of Cambodia* China...
of the Kings and Queens of Navarre from the late twelfth century to the mid-fifteenth. In the twentieth century the building, which had fallen into disrepair, was restored and in 1991 converted into the Museo Gustavo de Maeztu , housing the work of the painter Gustavo de Maeztu y Whitney and open to the public. The building is important in the history of architecture in Navarre, since it is the only civil building extant from the Romanesque period. In 1931, it was declared a national monument by the Spanish government
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
The main structure of the palace and its rectangular floor plan date from the twelfth century, but the tower and the gallery are sixteenth-century additions. The main building is two storeys, but the tower is three. The original interior, including all walls, is lost. The main façade, which faces the entrance to San Pedro de la Rúa, includes two early columns with narrative capitals: the left one tells the story of Roland
Roland
Roland was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. Historically, Roland was military governor of the Breton March, with responsibility for defending the frontier of Francia against the Bretons...
and Ferragut
Ferragut
In the Matter of France, Ferragut was a Saracen giant that fought the paladin Roland in Nájera in the late 8th century. According to Book IV of the Codex Calixtinus, Ferragut was a descendant of Goliath and had been sent to Nájera from Syria by the Emir of Babylon to fight the Christian army of...
, the right one is a scene from hell of four demons leading some misers to their punishment. Capitals decorated with vegetation top the other two columns.
External images
- Photograph before restoration, accompanied by extensive text in Spanish
- Photographs at La Guía Digital del Arte Románico
- Photograph at FlickrFlickrFlickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...