Oreitia / Oreytia

Described in Bilbao (1994) as a large medieval baptismal font, the basin sides ornamented with ribbed pattern and girded with ironwork ["abraza la taza con herrajes"]; the base with decorative mouldings. Bilbao (ibid.) cites entries in the Catálogo Monumental de la Diócesis de Vitoria, in López de Guereñu and in Portilla. Described in Arriola Loyola (1996) as a large baptismal font of the 16th or 17th century. This may be a later font, as Arreola Loyola suggests, or a composite font, with the base later than the basin; the odd looking half-ribs end in donought-like motifs at the top, and they are broadly spaced, perhaps 10-12 altogether on the sides; there is a pronounced roll moulding at the upper rim; the short pedestal base is a cluster of [eight?] columns [NB: the ironwork gird is nowhere to be found now [March 2011]; perhaps it was removed since the time of Bilbao's writing; there is though a significant crack on the sides of the basin and the brace may have been put in place at the time to stop the stone from further deterioration when in use; the font may have been restored since]. The entry for this church in the Enciclopedia del románico [https://www.romanicodigital.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/files/alava_OREITIA.pdf] [accessed 11 August 2024] mentions no font in it. There is a holy-water stoup shown in a photograph by López de Guereñu [https://photo.araba.eus/s/photoaraba/item/60934] [accessed 11 August 2024]; it is built onto the right columns of the church portal; it consists of a roughly hemispherical basin which appears to have been built into the place of an existing column, using the lower part of that column as base to the stoup [NB: a later restoration of this portal had the stoup removed and the original columns restored, as shown in the Enciclopedia...].