Church of Santa María de Iguacel. 11th century

The church of Santa María de Iguacel is found at the head of the Garcipollera Valley, accessible from Castiello de Jaca. Its construction began between 1040 and 1050. In 1080 it was donated to the Monastery of San Juan de la Peña. The tower, on the north side, was built between the 13th and the 14th centuries. The doorway of the south vestibule was added at a later date and is probably Gothic.

It is a sobre building made of stone with a single nave, a roof of wooden structure, a semicircular apse with hemispherical vault preceeded by a small chancel with a barrel vault. Sancho Galindez paid for the second stage of building work in 1072. This concentrated on the decoration of the interior. An inscription on the doorway records the event and says the following: “This is the door of the Lord through which the faithful enter the house of God, which is this church dedicated to St Mary. Herein has work been undertaken by order of the Count Sancho and his wife named Urraca. It was finished in the era of 1110 (1072), reign of King Sanch Ramirez of Aragon, who offered for his soul and in honour of St Mary the village known as Larrosa, so that Our Lord may give him eternal life, Amen. The stonemason that carved these letters is called Aznar. The master painter is Galindo Garcés”. This decoration has evident parallels with that of the cathedral in Jaca which leads to the assumption that the master builder of this church must have been one of the builders employed at the cathedral.

The interior harbours the remains of an interesting series of frescoes in the international Gothic apse. It was probably painted in the second quarter of the 15th century. The lower part depicts twelve saints and the second level, divided into sections by semicircular arches, shows scenes of the life of the Virgin.

Jaca Tourist Office . [ Jacetania ]