”Surrounded by mighty stone walls and guarded by a castle, the fortified town of Fuentidueña was established around the eleventh century in the Duero River valley, a contested frontier region between the Christian and Muslim ruled territories of the Iberian Peninsula. In the late twelfth century, after the definitive conquest of this region by Christian forces, Fuentidueña‘s residents built the church on San Martin adjacent to a massive gate regulating visitors’ entrance into town. Featuring smoothly cut stone blocks and architectural sculptures, the apse of the church was built and decorated in the Romanesque style used throughout Christian-ruled Iberia, as well as most of Western Europe, at this time. By embracing the prevailing style of western Christiandom, the church’s builders conveyed Fuentidueña‘s religious, political, and military allegiances to all who passed through the gate. Obtained as a long-term loan from Spain in 1957, the apse of San Martin de Fuentidueña was dismantled and reconstructed at The Cloisters to create this chapel-like gallery, which first opened to the public in 1961.”
“The modest church of San Martin at Fuentidueña probably functioned as the chapel for an adjacent castle. Constructed of over two thousand massive blocks of sandstone and several hundred limestone sculptural elements, the apse is composed of a graceful arch and semicircular barrel vault surmounted by a half dome. The plan of the church, a long nave without transepts or side aisles, is common in small Romanesque churches in Segovia. An unusual feature in the decoration of this apse is the inclusion of large pier figures: St. Martin, patron of the church, on the left and Gabriel’s Annunciation to the Virgin on the right. A capital above the Annunciation represents the Nativity. The large capitals supporting the diaphragm arch show, on the left, the Adoration of the Magi and, on the right, Daniel in the Lion’s Den. The vigorous carving, although regional in style, reveals influences from other creative centers of Spain, especially Santiago de Compostela and San Vicente in Avila.”
The MET Cloisters
The above quotations from the display of the Apse of San Martin at Fuentidueña, set the scene for the exhibit that has been meticulously relocated to the MET museum.
In the early 1930’s the METs founder, John D. Rockefeller Jr. sent representatives in search of an architectural representation of Medieval Europe. The Apse of San Martin at Fuentidueña was identified but no agreement was made at the time. It wasn’t until the early 1940’s that negotiations took up again. Finally, in 1957 after many years of consultation and diplomacy, an agreement was reached. The Metropolitan would fund the purchase and permanent loan of six frescos to the Prado, the reconstruction of Fuentidueña’s local San Miguel church and the upkeep of the cemetery at the nearby Ayuntamiento de Fuentidueña. In addition it would pay for the cataloguing, shipment and reconstruction of the apse to be displayed crediting it as a loan from the Spanish government.
Measuring approximately 9.2 x 7.5 x 8.4m even the logistics of the undertaking of such an ambitious is rather impressive. The project consisted of moving this broad arched barrel vaulted section of the church which culminates in a half dome. It was reconstructed some 5,700km away. More than 3,300 individual stone blocks were shipped in 839 individual crates. These were unpacked and carefully installed requiring a major refurbishment of the former ‘Special Exhibition Room’ at the museum.
Standing in this room today, the light pouring in from narrow and stilted windows, the apse represents both medieval history and modern creativity. It is inspiring and moving in equal parts.
Good To Know
The apse as represented at the MET Cloisters in New York is not only an excellent exhibit in and of itself but a major and groundbreaking innovation of the time.
The remainder of the church of San Martin in Fuentidueña today stands in ruins on a hill just outside town.
Would I Return?
Yes.