Tredos no. 6 / Tredòs / Cap d'Aran

Image and permission received via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 20 May 2015)

Results: 13 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

animal - head

Scene Description: The head has been identified as a fish in one source, though it is arguable whether or not it is indeed the head of a fish. especially since there appear to be stylised carved hair towards the back of the stone [cf. FontNotes for details]

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 1 May 2015 by Txaro Irigoyen

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 20 May 2015)

view of church exterior - detail

Image Source: digital photograph by Julia Guerra

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 13 August 2021)

view of church exterior - south façade - detail

Scene Description: Source caption: "Crismó de la portada de l'església de Santa Maria de Cap d'Aran (Era Mare de Diu de Cap d'Aran), Tredós, Val d'Aran"

Image Source: digital photograph taken 5 August 2005 by Catalan Art & Architecture Gallery (Josep Bracons) [www.flickr.com/photos/jbracons/4450650036/in/photostream/] [accessed 8 June 2015]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of church exterior - south façade - detail

Image Source: digital photograph by Julia Guerra

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 13 August 2021)

view of church exterior - south portal

Image Source: digital photograph taken 11 August 2005 by Catalan Art & Architecture Gallery (Josep Bracons) [www.flickr.com/photos/jbracons/4438099613/in/photostream/] [accessed 8 June 2015]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of church exterior - southeast view

Image Source: digital photograph taken 6 August 2009 by Catalan Art & Architecture Gallery (Josep Bracons) [www.flickr.com/photos/jbracons/4449873903/in/photostream/] [accessed 8 June 2015]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of church exterior - tower

Image Source: digital photograph by Julia Guerra

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 13 August 2021)

view of church interior - apse - painting

Scene Description: Source caption: "'The Virgin and Child in Majesty and the Adoration of the Maji', Romanesque fresco by the Master of Pedret from the apse of the Church of "La Mare de Deu de Cap d'Aran" (Tredòs), Lleida, Spain, c. 1100 -- Collections of The Cloisters, New York City"

Image Source: digital photograph 10 September 2007 by wmpearl [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:'The_Virgin_and_Child_in_Majesty_and_the_Adoration_of_the_Maji',_Romanesque_fresco_by_the_Master_of_Pedret_from_the_apse_of_the_Church_of_Saint_Joan_at_Tredos,_Lleida,_Spain,_c._1100.jpg] [accessed 8 June 2015]

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of church interior - crypt - detail

Image Source: digital photograph by Julia Guerra

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 13 August 2021)

view of church interior - crypt - detail

Scene Description: showing the present [ca. 2021] location of two of the objects -left and right- listed in BSI for this church

Image Source: digital photograph by Julia Guerra

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 13 August 2021)

view of church interior - detail

Image Source: digital photograph by Julia Guerra

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 13 August 2021)

view of church interior - detail

Image Source: digital photograph by Julia Guerra

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 13 August 2021)

view of font

Scene Description: the true function of these objects is yet to be fully uinderstood [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital photograph taken 1 May 2015 by Txaro Irigoyen

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received via Mikel Unanue (e-mail of 20 May 2015)

INFORMATION

FontID: 03694CAP

Church/Chapel: Santa Maria de Cap d’Aran / Era Mare de Diu de Cap d'Aran

Church Patron Saints: St. Mary the Virgin

Church Location: Cami Casans,dels;Ag. Tredos, 5, 25598 Tredós, Lérida, Spain

Country Name: Spain

Location: Lérida / Lleida, Cataluña / Catalunya

Directions to Site: Located off the C-28 (at km 34) , between Salardu (WNW) and Baqueira (ESE), E of Vielha dn the N-230

Ecclesiastic Region: Diócesis de Lérida

Historical Region: Valle de Aran / Vall d'Aran

Font Location in Church: Inside the church, beneath the western gallery ["sotocoro"]

Century and Period: 12th - 13th century, Romanesque

Workshop/Group/Artisan: oil font? / pica d'oli?

Cognate Fonts: Tredos No. 5, Arties, etc.

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Julia Guerra for her photographs of this church and fonts

Church Notes: There are three baptismal fonts and one water stoup in this church, all of them from the Middle Ages. Access to these churches is at present [1998-1999] erratic, usually difficult if not impossible outside the reduced hours of service, partly because the few clergy are stretched over several parishes, but also because some of them [there are notable exceptions to whom BAPTISTERIA SACRA is most grateful] do not favour the opening of these churches to visitors, nor are some of the key-holders [ditto re exceptions] any better inclined.

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

The second [cf. Index entry for Cap d'Aran No. 2] , and the smaller, of two rectangular stone objects identified by some as early immersion fonts, located in this church. This has one of the narrower sides carved in the shape of a pointed animal head, said to be a fish and hence given all the pertinent attributes of the early-Christian symbolism attached to the species. Described in Sarrate Forga (1975) as a pre-Romanesque baptismal font for immersion baptism; the same source identifies the motif as a fish head. The description in Catalunya romànica (1984- , v. XIII: 391), argues that the identification of this shape with a fish crashes againts the fact that there appears to be a mane of hair on the upper part. Noted in Lopez de los Mozos (1997) as pre-Romanesque and the head identified as that of a fish. Amiell (2007) includes [erroneously? -- unless the font has been moved] the description and photograph of this font under the name of "Santa Maria de Tredòs". These 'oil fonts' -if they are indeed baptismal fonts- are found in several churches of the Val d'Aran and are believed by some to have been the original vessels used for baptism in the area of the former diocese of Comminges. The claim is that, with the advent of later liturgical practices and art fashions, i.e., infant baptism and the Romanesque style, respectively, the older tub-like fonts were recycled to hold the oil -collected as tithes in kind- stored for the heating and illumination of the churches [NB: the Val d'Aran is in the high Pyrenees and the stone buildings require heating throughout the year, often even in summer]. Some of these old fonts have been cemented to the walls and furnished with covers or acces trap-doors, thus making them often invisible to the visitor. One of the major problems with the theory that these were replaced by the chalice-shaped Romanesque fonts well-known in the area is that other historians date the "piques d'oli" to approximately the same period, i.e., the late 12th or early 13th century. Moreover, the "immersion" claim does not suit the small size of these objects, since they have almost identical depth as the "replacement" fonts.

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 42.70266, 0.91785

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 42° 42′ 9.58″ N, 0° 55′ 4.26″ E

UTM: 31T 329468 4729898

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, marble

Number of Pieces: one

Font Shape: rectangular (unmounted)

Basin Interior Shape: rectangular

Basin Exterior Shape: rectangular

Height of Basin Side: 32 cm [29 cm at the other end]

Basin Total Height: 32 cm [29 cm at the other end]

Font Height (less Plinth): 32 cm [29 cm at the other end]

Trapezoidal Basin: 85 x 52 cm*

Notes on Measurements: Catalunya romànica (1984- , v. XIII: 391) *[NB: the irregular object is 52 x 32 cm at the end of the animal (?) head, and 34 x 29 cm at the opposite end]

LID INFORMATION

Notes: the groove at the top may have accommodated a lid

REFERENCES

Fundació Enciclopèdia Catalana, Catalunya romànica, Barcelona: Fundació Enciclopèdia Catalana, 1984-

López de los Mozos, José Ramón, "Sirenas y “Corazones de la vida” en el arte pastoril", 17b, 201, Revista de Folklore, 1997, pp. 97-100; r["References"]

Sarrate Forga, José, Arte románico en el Cap d'Aran. El, Lérida: [El Autor], 1975