Thursday, May 7, 2009

Sant Pau del Camp

Sant Pau del Camp
10th-13th Century
Presented by Chris Anderson
Since the early times of the foundation of Barcino, an urban inhabited nucleus was formed. There was a vast, crop-oriented plain called El Camp, in the Montjuic side of the outskirts of the city. The history and documentation about the Monastery of Sant Pau del Camp is very limited and extremely confusing. It was founded between the years 897 to 911 by the Earl Guifr’e Borrell according to his gravestone found in January 1596, which at the moment is attached to the wall in the left arm of the church underneath the transept. There have been no written documents about the monastery since its foundation until the moment of being looted by the Al-Mansur’s troops, which was suffered in the year 985. The monastery remained as a simple church, which didn’t shelter any community until its second foundation. The old church was completely restored towards the XIII century with a type of construction based on a Romantic nave, with transepts, three apses and a dome. Worked stone was used in the noble and outstanding parts of it including the main front as well as the highest part of the façade. This type of work can also be found in the blocked arches over the eaves overhang that surround it in the walls and apses of the frontage as well as in the interior part of the nave.