Tag: Church

BRIEF HISTORY

The first historical record of a structure existing on the Saint Andreu’s site is from 966. During that century, the church was destroyed in 985 by Al-Mared and rebuilt in 990 as a temple belonging to the parish of Sant Andreu.

The next mention of its existence is in the XII century. In 1100, the church was destroyed by an Almoravid attack. The community re-built a new Romanesque structure again in 1132.

Due to the industrialization of the XIX century, the town encouraged a significant growth. In 1850 the architect Perre Falques was commissioned to construct a new and larger structure. By 1881 the main structure (naves, alter and dome) were completed and the church opened to the public.

On August 9^th 1882, the dome collapsed, killing 7 people and injuring 11 more. To ease public fears and ensure the safety of the new dome, Joan Torras I Guardiola designed a connecting steel frame between the exterior and interior domes. The new dome system was completed in 1885. Between 1889 and 1904 the restoration of the main facade and bell tower was finished.

Only 5 years after its completion, the structure was burned as many other churches in Barcelona during the Tragic Week in 1909. The church was quickly repaired before it was burned and looted again during the Spanish Civil War in 1936. This time, the damages mainly affected the interior and they were not repaired until 3 years later.

The final major event in the XX century which altered the church was the construction of the metro during the years 1965 and 1967. During the construction process some water entered in the tunnels causing settlement of the main facade. The damages induced by these differential settlements were not fixed until 1982 due to a lack of money. This intervention included drilling micro-piles beneath the entrance and first bays of the church and adding two longitudinal (reinforced concrete) beams to tie the front facade to the rest of the structure.

In 2004, a piece of the dome fell, damaging the ceramic tiled roof below. Immediately after the accident, the roof was repaired and a net was added to the dome to prevent future drops. Since that time, a number of investigations have questioned the structural stability of the dome, but again a lack of money hasprevented the implementation of any restoration plans.

ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES AND GEOMETRY

The church was designed in a Neoclassical style in the late XIX century. Regular stone masonry covers the main facade and the lower half of the unique single bell-tower on the right of the structure. The upper tower and tambour of the dome are finished with clay bricks, while the remainder of the exterior was constructed with rubble masonry, mixing bricks with little stones in a non-homogeneous matrix.

The church consists of a main nave and two lateral naves, in a succession of arches forming a barrel vault. The thrust of the main nave is counterbalanced by a system of buttresses connected by orthogonal walls. These longitudinal walls on each side of the central nave have midpoint arch opening between each arched rib of the barrel vault that lead to the smaller lateral naves. The external roofing of these naves is made of traditional Arabic tiles over timber or concrete beams.

Following the typical cross-plan layout, a large and spacious transept crosses the nave before the apse with a large dome above the intersection. The most notable architectural element of the church is the external ribbed dome, rising from 40 to 60m.

BRIEF HISTORY

The actual church that we can see today was built in 1342 in the same place where there was an old one. The construction started with the lateral chapels. In 1360 the construction of the nave started.

In 1370 there was an earthquake in Barcelona that caused the dropped of some decorative elements such as the rose window, but it didn’t affect the structural elements.

It took many years to finish the building because of economic problems, it is estimated that it was finished between 1500 and 1515. But it wasn’t till 1553 when the construction of the only tower started.

The previous temple to the actual one was found in 1723 and in 1852 the works of excavation to study the old building started.

In 1879, the architect Augusto Font protected a restoration of the church in order to build the missing tower, nevertheless, the only thing that he could do was elevate the tower up to the height of the cornice on the central window, as we can see today.

ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES AND GEOMETRY

The present church has a Gothic style and it only has one nave. One characteristic aspect is that the main facade only has one semioctogonal tower. The lateral facade consists of a simple set of prisms that form the buttresses with a smooth surface of the lower part.

The interior part is formed by only one nave divided in five parts. In each part there are two chapels at both sides.

BRIEF HISTORY

The original convent was built in the neighborhood of Sant Agustí Vell but during the Spanish Succession War in between 1713-1714, the convent was affected by extensive bombing and the Augustinian monks were forced to leave their old convent and move to where it is nowadays, in the neighborhood of El Raval.

The Baroque structure that stands today was constructed by Pere Bertan at the beginning of 1728. The construction ended in 1750, however, the main facade was never completed. The apse and the transept where built between 1728 and 1731; and the nave between 1731 and 1739.

In 1739, the monks stopped the construction because they were not satisfied with the works. Seven wells were opened to inspect the depth of the foundations. They discovered that there was a great variability in the foundations’ depth. The experts deemed the church unstable and near collapse. However, the experts stipulated that reinforcing elements could be a solution to compensate the problems caused by the low quality of materials and that the foundations could be left alone since they believed the soil was solid enough to support the structure.

Between 1808 and 1814, during the French occupation of the city, the monastery housed soldiers and monks simultaneously.

During anti-religious violence in 1835, the church of Sant Agusti was burned as many other religious buildings in the city. In consequence, the west cloister was turned down.

The fence that created the patio at the north entrance of the basilica was demolished in 1855, and the new free area became the actual Plaça de Sant Agustí.

During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) a bomb was dropped in the northeast part of the church which destroyed the east lateral.

ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES AND GEOMETRY

Saint Agustí church is a typical basilica construction, it is composed of three longitudinal naves, the transept and the choir. There are also lateral chapels at both sides called aisles.

The porch has the same width of the church, this is 33.8 m long and 5.5 m width, with cross vaults and divided by a transverse arch. The main nave is 56.4 m long and 14.5 m width. It has five chapels on each side of 9.9 m width. Each chapel has a cross vault supported by pillars of 1.2x2.4 m².

BRIEF HISTORY

The current church of Sant Vicenç was built at the end of the XVIII century, partially, above the remains of the previous Romanesque (XI c.) and Gothic (XIV c.) temples (thus, even in the early years of the church, there was likely a different soil condition between different parts of the church).

The Romanic church existed since the XI c. Later, the church was substituted by a bigger one in a Gothic style in the year 1373. The construction of the actual building was built from 1784 to 1807 and the bell-tower was finished in 1818, according to a project of Josep Mas and Joan Fàbregas.

A lightning strike in 1838 supposedly produced some cracks in the tower and in the first bays. To address the unfinished state of the church (there is no right tower), a project of restoration was committed to Josep Artigas. The whole extent of that restoration is unknown but the lack of money was evident because the right tower still doesn’t exist today.

In 1918, with a new priest, some alterations were made such as the opening of new large windows on the walls of the transept (project by Enric Sagnier).

In 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, the temple was burnt. The building fully resisted but some damage appeared: two holes on the right facade and other localized damages.

Finally, during 1970, an important event that affected the church was the construction of the new line of the train (Rodalies) passing under the church.

ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES AND GEOMETRY

The Neoclassical style temple of Sant Vicenç has one central nave and two lateral aisles divided into 6 bays. The first one is two-storied for the choir; the central four ones have little chapels; and the sixth one is a wide transept. The crossing is finished with a hemispherical dome. The magnificent presbytery is on a different level and connected to two big chapels.

The facade presents an elaborated decoration with a rose window in its central part, which is made of ashlar masonry with Montjuïc stone. On the left side, a bell tower of 44m is the most significant element. This tower and the lateral walls are made of rubble masonry with regular blocks on the corners. A gable roof covers the nave. Over the inner dome, there is a square cimborio with a tiled roof. Some measurements are:

• Total width of 25m and total length of 50m.
• Height of the intrados of the inner dome of 24m.
• Height of the central nave of 18m.
• Width of the central nave of 11m.

BRIEF HISTORY

Some sources consider that this church is even older than Santa Maria Pi church. Some texts prove that in the year 986 the church already existed.

In 1689, after the “War of Nine Years”, the church was repaired because it had been damaged during the French attacks.

In July the 18^th 1936, the church was completed burned by the republicans during the Spanish Civil War and so, only the foundations were stood after the fire.

The church we see today was built around 1940 and 1946 as a project of reconstruction of the older building. The project was ordered to Mr. Romaní. He presented five different projects to the ministry but they didn’t approve them so, he quit. Finally, the construction was done by the architect Duraán i Reynals. He tried to reuse as much as it was possible the original foundations. In February the 11^th 1940, the works started.

ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES AND GEOMETRY

The building has a main and central nave and two lateral naves separated by a double row of arches which finish before the altar and they end into a cruise where the lateral altars are.

The nave is 13m width. The lateral naves, of less width, give access to two chapels at both sides of the apse and to a group of smaller altars.

The new foundations that where built are made of Montjuïc stone masonry, concreted with cement of 3550kg. They are properly linked to the old foundations. The exterior walls are of ordinary masonry and 45cm width.

BRIEF HISTORY

The building we can see today was constructed on the remains of a previous church. The first reliable reference from the first church dates back to the year 987, but historical documents are lacking to prove it. The construction process of the church we can see today begun around 1320. The last stone was placed in 1391 but the main facade and the bell tower were completed some years later.

In 1428 there was an earthquake in Catalonia and the lateral facades of the church were damaged.

In 1714, during the Succession War, an explosion caused severe damage to the building, in fact, some vaults, windows, walls, pavement and the rose window were destroyed.

Between 1863 and 1880 the church suffered a huge process of restoration where the director of the works, Francesc de Paula Villar, decided to replace all the previous internal elements. During these works, an auxiliary structure to support the keystone of the central vault was erected and some timber members were replaced by steel ones.

The 20^th of June 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, an anticlerical group entered in the church and fired it. Due to this event, most of the remaining internal wooden decorations were turned to ash and the rose window was destroyed.

Around 1950, the architect Jeroni Martorell started another period of restoration. The rose window was rebuilt for the second time following the original model, some stones were substituted and the cracks were repointed.

Finally, in 2009, the Gereralitat de Catalunya did some works of restoration to remove the steal placed in the 50’s because the humidity was causing the expansion of the steal and so, they were creating important fissures. It is also planned to waterproof the roof in the future years.

ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES AND GEOMETRY

It’s a religious building from the latest Gothic.

The structure of the nave is a rectangular body of 54 m long, 16.5 m wide and 28.5 m high. It has 7-axis buttresses of 1.5 m thick at the base, separated 4.5 m approximately each. It was originally built with stone from Montjuïc and with lime mortar joints. This rectangle ends in a polygonal apse formed by six radially disposed buttresses with the same thickness as the above. The ship deck is made up of cross vaults in typical Gothic style.

Attached to the church there is an octagonal belfry of 54 m height. It is structurally detached from the nave, which operates independently, supported on stone walls that at the base have a thickness of 3.5 m. The space between the church and the belfry was tapped to expand the actual area of the building.

ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES AND GEOMETRY

The building is made up of three naves with four sections and an altar surrounded by seven chapels with cross-vaults. The total width is 35.30 m and the length 85 m. The top height of the central-nave vault is 32 m. The octagonal piers are 26 m high and the span is 13 m long. Each central section has 13x13 m² square cross vaults. The height of the lateral vaults is 26 m and hence, it is said to be relatively high considering that they are lateral chapels.

There are two towers in the facade: the eastern tower is 46 m high and the western one is 47 m high. The diameter of the rose window is about 9 m.

The buttresses are 14 m high from the roof of the chapel to the top of the buttress. Some of the buttresses are 1.5 m wide and others 1.38 m. The vaults are built of about 20 cm thick brick. In the central vault the infill is composed of ceramic pieces and the thickness is around 0.7 to 1 m.

The masonry is mainly constituted by Montjuïc stone and lime mortar. Its mechanical properties were characterized in previous studies and are the following: specific weight = 22 KN/m³; compressible strength = 30 MPa; and the elastic modulus = 10 GPa.

Concerning the piers, there is a squared stone in the center, surrounded by four hexagonal stones, forming an octagonal shape. This represents one unit, and each unit is positioned rotating 45 degrees from the lower unit, in order to ensure stability. The higher stiffness and strength of the piers when compared with the other elements of the structure confirm their essential role in the global behavior of the structure. Their height is 26 m and the diameter around 1.5 m.

BRIEF HISTORY

There are different theories, depending on the author we read, about the establishment of the monastery. There exist documents that prove that Sant Pau del Camp was functioning as a monastery since 991. It is believed that the monastery was destroyed by Al Mansur’s troops. After that, it was rebuilt and returned to its normal activities in the XI century.

The monastery was again destroyed by Almoravides in 1114, so there was a second founding in 1117 and that new church is the one we see today.

In 1808, during French occupation of the city, the monks were evacuated from the church to use it as a hospital by the French army. From 1811 until 1813 it was occupied by the Italian army (allied of the French) and used as the local headquarter. In 1814, the monastery became a school-novitiate and the conservation of the building was almost lacking. Although the church was returned to the religious order in 1814, the rest of the monastery continued occupied by the French until 1824.

During the anticlerical riots in 1835, the monastery was burnt and demolished like most of the structures in Barcelona.

From 1842 until 1879, the Army whitewashed the cloister with slaked lime nearly every year for sanitary reasons. In 1899, a restoration plan was carried out by the architect Villar I Carmona, he sealed the main damages, cleaned the walls and removed all the lime plaster that covered the stones. In 1904, this phase was finished with the construction of the actual chapel.

In 1909, during the Tragic Week, the church suffered a small fire with no serious structural consequences but the parish house was destroyed. In 1930 the school of Sant Pau was created close to the church.

In 1936, the provoked fire on July 20th caused huge damage. The altars were destroyed and ornaments and artistic pieces disappeared or were destroyed. Some stone areas were damaged, pavements were partial or totally destroyed, as well as every wooden feature.

In 1939, Manuel Rovira begun the restoration works, but as it was a national monument since XIX century, the Spanish government and the city hall took charge of it. These restoration works were carried out during the 40’s and 50’s.

The last important catastrophe that affected the building was a flooding in 1981. Because of a heavy storm, the water reached 1.5 m above the ground level of the cloister. Finally, in 2007 the cloister was totally repaired.

ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES AND GEOMETRY

It consist of three main parts: the church, the chapel and the cloister. The plan of the church has the form of a typical Greek cross, characterized by: a square nave with a length of 8.5m and a width of 8m; two rectangular arms of length 4.8 m and 7.3m respectively; a square central part of 8m each side; three semicircular apses with a diameter of 4.5m for the lateral ones and 7.1m for the main one.

A large dome supported on four arches covers the central part. Barrel vaults characterize all the galleries of the church and semi-domes cover the three apses. The church has three-leaf stone-masonry with a total thickness of approximately 1m.

In the right gallery of the church is the chapel: it has an area of 5.3x5.9m² and it is covered by a Neo-Gothic cross vault. The cloister has a square space of dimensions 14.4x13.2m². The central part of this space is an “impluvium” that collects rainwater. A gallery of width 2.7m runs all around this space.