Andorra La Vella

by Joan Escala-Usarralde

Title

Andorra La Vella

Artist

Joan Escala-Usarralde

Medium

Photograph - Photographs

Description

The church of Sant Esteve preserves the largest Romanesque apse and rich in sculpted decoration in all of Andorra.

Located on the banks of the Comú, at the entrance to the old town, Sant Esteve is the parish church of Andorra la Vella. The current building is the result of several modifications and extensions of the Romanesque church, the most important made in the last century, and among which stands out the west façade, the work of the Catalan architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch.
Of the early 12th century church, only the semicircular apse, part of the nave walls and an apse remain. The apse is the largest and richest in sculptural decoration preserved in Romanesque Andorra; it has two double-slit windows and its quarter-sphere roof was made of pumice stone. On the outside, under the slab, a saw-tooth frieze extends from side to side, and below it appears another of blind arches, both in the Lombard style; each of the arches is supported by a small bracket with geometric decorations.
All the walls of the apse and the presbytery were decorated with mural paintings, probably from the 13th century, which are partly preserved in the National Art Museum of Catalonia. Iconographically they constitute the most elaborate set of the Principality; the preserved fragments represent different scenes from the life of Jesus, as well as figurative architectures and plant and geometric motifs. From the same period would be the polychrome beam that crosses the apse from side to side and that must have supported a canopy, unfortunately, disappeared.
Inside there are several Baroque altarpieces: the one dedicated to Saint John the Baptist (dated 1707), the one of Saint Lucia, the one of Saint Christ and the main altarpiece consecrated to the titular saint, and also the painting called Quadro de les ánimes, also from the 18th century.

Uploaded

July 26th, 2021

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