Artistic treasures of the Middle Ages: San Juan de la Peña

The Middle Ages and its legendary magnetism, a world where Light and Darkness rivaled, with a strength like no other.

To speak of the monastery of San Juan de la Peña, is to go beyond considering that historical part of the pantheon of the kings of Aragon and enter the wonderful world of Myths.

To see it there, embedded in the primordial matrix of an imposing mountain, is to trace the imagination towards times whose epic events are lost in the puddles of history.

History admits that, for centuries, this impressive monastery was the place where the Holy Grail was guarded, which San Lorenzo was safe, when the Visigoths of Alaric sacked and conquered Rome, in 410 AD. of C.

Associated, generally, with the chalice of the Last Supper, this beautiful glass of onyx and precious stones, rests, after innumerable vicissitudes, in the cathedral of Valencia, where it was commanded to be transferred by King Martin the Human.

But here also the presence and work of a mysterious master stonemason or Magister Muri is detected, which in the absence of a known name, researchers have baptized as the Master of Agüero and San Juan de la Peña.

His sculpture defines it. As the "Magic Spain" researcher, Juan García Atienza, affirmed, the eyes of the characters of this unique Master seem to look towards the infinite.

In the cloister, whose ceiling is the imposing opening of the rock, the sculptures of the capitals, naive though full of details - like that of the Holy Supper, where Judas is seen trying to sneak the fish - with the main scenes of the Bible and the New Testament.

The resurrection of Lazarus, among other scenes, attracts attention, because under the embalmed body like a mummy of the friend of Jesus, there are some circles that remind us of the old cups that the Neolithic man left engraved on the walls of the caves that inhabited and that some researchers, for lack of better explanation, consider stars.

The nakedness of Adam and Eve, or that veiled reference to the nakedness of paganism, of all those who have not received the Light of Baptism and therefore remain naked in the darkness of their own condemnation.

The story of Abel and Cain, which is summed up in the consummation of the murder, but where it is noticed, apart from the traditional stone - an element that would later be used in numerous stoning, such as that of San Esteban - the formidable mace with which Cain He killed his brother Abel.

Stories, myths and rites put at the service of Faith and an Art, which was not considered the best and most representative expression of Christianity: the Romanesque.

NOTICE: Both the text and the accompanying photographs are my exclusive intellectual property.

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