The origins
The regions of north-western Spain are veritable open-air museums that take you back in time. In Galicia, menhirs and Neolithic dolmens still have a sacred character today. Passing under the rock formations of the Costa de la Muerte should bring you luck! In Asturias, as in Galicia, you can also discover the very elaborate architecture of the first Celtic villages: the castros. Grouping several circular houses, they were protected by powerful and massive enclosures. The Castro de Coaña, founded in the Iron Age, is one of the best preserved sites in Asturias. The circular foundations of several dwellings and fortifications can be seen, as well as evidence of ingenious urban planning with street divisions and a water drainage system. The Celtic village of A Guarda is also a must-see. These villages obviously interested the Romans who gradually imposed their power there. In these regions, Roman architecture is pragmatic and monumental, like the impressive aqueduct of Segovia which dominates the city with its granite silhouette and 163 arches whose stones were assembled... without mortar! Among the other very beautiful witnesses of the Roman power, let us note: the imposing enclosure of Lugo with its 6 m broad and 11 m high; the Roman bridge of Salamanque spanning the Tomes; the thermal baths of Campo Valdès; the Triumphal Arch of Medinaceli (which one finds on the road signs indicating an ancient site!) or still the Roman Villa of La Olmeda and its superb mosaics. The Visigoths then left their mark via an embryonic Christian art mixing Eastern influences (horseshoe arches) and Western influences (basilica plan) in stylized decorations, like the hermitage of Quintanilla de la Viňas and its church whose capitals of the columns of the triumphal arch are richly decorated with solar and lunar motifs, or the church of San Pedro de la Nave and its friezes with delicate relief.
Medieval effervescence
The High Middle Ages in northwestern Spain had two faces. Almost the entire peninsula was under Moorish rule and saw the development of Mozarabic art, a Christian art that drew on the sources of the Arab tradition. In Castilla y León, churches were enriched with ribbed domes, horseshoe or poly-lobed arches and rich chromatic effects, such as the Peñalba church in Santiago or the church of San Miguel in Escalada. Asturias, however, never experienced Arab domination. It was from this small kingdom that the Reconquest began and it was here that a unique pre-Romanesque art developed, particularly in Oviedo, the first Christian capital of the peninsula. Don't miss the church of Santa Maria del Naranco, which is still very much influenced by Visigothic art and has typical Asturian features such as the rope-like columns and the church of San Julian de los Prados with its superb frescos. It is from the 11th century that the Romanesque style will fully blossom around one of its most beautiful sanctuaries: the Santiago de Compostela cathedral. It has been altered many times, but still preserves some Romanesque treasures such as the richly decorated Puerta de la Plateria and Portico de Gloria. Not far away, the Palacio Gelmirez is one of the rare examples of civil Romanesque. Don't miss its synodal hall with its superb ribbed vaults. Everywhere along the roads of the Reconquest, churches, collegiate churches and monasteries flourish, combining power, sobriety and decoration aimed at educating the faithful. Among them are: the Colegiata San Isidoro and the Panteon Real in Leon; the ancient cathedral of Salamanca; the church of San Juan de los Caballeros in Segovia and the monasteries of Ribas de Sil and Oseira in Galicia. The Gothic style that followed was flamboyant. Among the masterpieces of this art of height and lightness, do not miss the cathedral of Leon with its majestic nave lit by no less than 1,800m2 of stained glass windows and especially the cathedral of Burgos, thethird largest in the country! The Gothic style found its apogee in what is known as the Isabelline style, entirely devoted to demonstrating the power of the Catholic Monarchs in a decorative debauchery where heraldic motifs and free and flexible forms inspired by the discoveries of the New World are mixed. One of the most famous examples of this style is a civil building: the Casa de la Concha (House of Shells) in Salamanca, decorated with almost 400 scallops in golden stone. The house also has a patio, thus testifying to the contributions of the Mudéjar style, an Arab-inspired art practised within a Christian kingdom. The layout of the houses around a refreshing patio and blind exterior walls to preserve privacy, coffered ceilings, domes and azulejo decorations are some of the major Mudéjar contributions. The Reconquest was also military, with the multiplication of castles, especially in Castilla y León(castillo means castle!) The oldest date back to the 10th and 11th centuries, but most of those that have survived date from the 14th and 15th centuries. There are more than a hundred of them, so it is difficult to mention them all! But among the most famous, don't miss the Mota Castle in Medina del Campo built on the site of an ancient Arab fortress or alcazar and whose Torre de Homenaje (the central keep) has an impressive crenellated silhouette; the castle of Peňafiel; the castle of Ponferrada built by the Knights Templar or the amazing Alcazar of Segovia with its Arab-Gothic decoration. At the same time, the medieval towns, protected by powerful walls as in Llanes, developed in a tangle of cobbled streets lined with stately homes decorated with coats of arms and coats of arms, leading to the Plaza Mayor, the heart of the city concentrating the powers (town hall, church), lined with galleries with arcades. Like Covarrubiàs and Santillana del Mar, many villages have preserved this typically medieval charm.
Renaissance and Baroque
Continuing in the 16th century, the abundant Isabelline style largely inspired what is known as the Plateresque Renaissance, so called because of its abundant carvings and chiselled decorations, like goldsmith's work(platero in Spanish). The Hostal de San Marcos in Leon, with its medallions, columns and carved arches, is one of the most beautiful plateresque buildings in Spain. But it is undoubtedly Salamanca that has the greatest number of them, with the Convent of San Esteban at the head, whose façade is a plateresque manifesto with its friezes, medallions and grotesques adorning triumphal arches, niches and consoles. One of the great architects of the time, Rodrigo Gil de Hontanon, chose to perpetuate the Gothic tradition in a search for clarity and rigour, as with his Monterey Palace in Salamanca, inspired by the royal alcazars, or the Cathedral of Segovia, with its high vessel and ribbed vaults. This rejection of too much decorative exuberance found its apogee in the Herrerian style - named after its great exponent, Juan Herrera - all austerity and monumentality. This style left a lasting impression on Spain, which explains the dual face of the Baroque that followed it. On the one hand, the Baroque was to become abundant, exuberant and twirling. An art of staging and visual effects, it adorned with its ornamental wealth the facades of the pazos, the large patrician residences dominating the parks and gardens where nature was also on display, as in the Pazo d'Oca in Compostela. The main façade of the city's cathedral is another superb example of this baroque decoration with its many sculptures, as is the baroque façade of the University of Valladolid. They are emblems of a style known as Churrigueresque, named after the Churriguera, a famous dynasty of architects who multiplied torso columns, inverted pyramid pilasters and finely carved altarpieces. On the other hand, the Baroque style was more moderate, seeking clarity and harmony. This is notably the case in the palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso, which Philip V wanted to be both conducive to prayer and grandiose in the image of the Château de Versailles. The superb Plaza Mayor in Salamanca, a masterpiece of symmetry and clarity, was nevertheless built... by a Churriguera! Proof that from the second half of the 18th century onwards, the baroque style was definitively replaced by a classical style.
Vernacular richness
The landscapes of Galicia and Asturias are dotted withhórreos, traditional granaries built on piles and often surrounded by crosses and other symbols of protection. Carnota, in Galicia, has one of the biggest and oldest hórreos of the country. Since 1763, its silhouette of 24 m dominates the village! Of stone in Galicia, they are often out of wood with a roof of thatch and slate in Asturias. Still in Asturias, and especially in the Somiedo Natural Park, you will also discover the teitos, old dry stone houses with thatched roofs used as shelters for people... and animals. Just like the pallozas, which can be found in Galicia as well as in Castilla y León. These circular huts with thatched roofs and low walls sheltering men and animals, separated only by a plank wall, are thought to be of Celtic origin! In Castilla y León, you will very rarely find isolated farms... most of them are, in fact, gathered in stone hamlets with flattened silhouettes punctuating the arid expanses of the Meseta or clinging to the slopes of the Sierra de Gredos. The region is also famous for being one of the only ones with half-timbered houses, such as in Covarrubias. Protected by lime and sand mortar, these houses are also recognisable by their gently sloping roofs, wooden balconies and columned porticoes offering shade. In order to protect themselves from the humidity of the climate and at the same time let in the light, the houses of Cantabria have large balconies protected by roof overhangs supported by pillars. The ground floor of these houses is usually occupied by livestock. The fishermen also have their own architecture, as shown by their Asturian houses built slightly backwards to protect themselves from the wind and weather and with large windows facing south to dry the fish. The region is also full of small fishing villages with stone and slate houses rising up towards the sea. And all these regions have of course in common to be protected by a multitude ofermitas, altars and chapels dedicated to the local saints!
Modern and contemporary architecture
The turn of the 20th century was a period of great architectural effervescence, particularly under the impetus of the Indianos, the Spaniards who returned from South America and wished to exhibit their new wealth. Their sumptuous residences mix past styles (gothic turrets, Mudejar patios, plateresque lacework and baroque decoration) and modernity with very beautiful balconies and glass windows in metal and wrought iron. In LLanes, the Concepción district has some very fine examples. This eclecticism tinged with modernity is also found in the seaside resorts which develop around new flagship buildings such as hotels and casinos. The Casinos of Llanes and Santander are proud representatives of this. Metal architecture can be found in civil engineering feats, such as the Puente Internacional de Tui by Gustave Eiffel, as well as in more modest, but very important achievements: markets and shopping arcades covered with glass windows supported by powerful metal structures. Very beautiful examples can be seen in Santander. A Coruña owes its nickname of "city of crystal" to the galerias that adorn the facades of its homes. These are known as "acristoladas" façades. These elegant glass bow windows can be seen along the Promenade de la Marina. This turn of the century was also marked by the unusual incursion of Catalan Modernism into the northern lands. In Astorga, Gaudi built the Palacio Episcopal for a Catalan bishop, an astonishing neo-Gothic building with superb ceramic decoration, which so frightened the ecclesiastical authorities that no other bishop lived there! Gaudi is also responsible for the Casa Botines in Leon, a sort of pastiche of a medieval castle, and the Capricho in Comillas, a Moorish-inspired palace with sumptuous chromatic effects. This architectural effervescence then dried up, stifled by the wars and Francoism... even if the latter gave rise to one of the most astonishing buildings in Spain: the Laboral University of Gijon, which became an art centre in 2005. It is one of the largest civil buildings in the country (270,000 m²!) that the architect Luis Moya Blanco imagined as an ideal city. Organized around an immense Herrerian-style courtyard, you will find a theatre, one of the largest elliptical churches in the world with Hispano-Moorish accents, an atrium with Corinthian columns topped by a glass roof, Renaissance-inspired palaces and an impressive 130-metre tower. A real historicizing delirium with rationalist accents. Since the 2000s, the northwestern regions of Spain have regained a creative effervescence under the impetus of great architects. Avilés is home to the only Spanish achievement of the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, who built a centre bearing his name. Climb to the top of his tower to enjoy a breathtaking view of the city! In Santander, Renzo Piano designed the Botin Centre, whose two buildings seem to be suspended in the air. Richard Rogers, on the other hand, designed the new Protos brand cellars in Peňafiel in the form of parabolic arches laminated in wood and designed to reduce the energy footprint. The MUSAC in Leon, with its facade of 3,351 coloured glass panels imagined as an echo of the cathedral's stained glass windows; the Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos with its large volumes of glass and light; or the luminous Millemium Dome in Valladolid are also among the contemporary creations not to be missed. You have a lot to discover!
