Romanesque art in Spain

Some of the most beautiful Romanesque art was created in Catalonia (in northeast Spain), and much of it can be seen today in the National Museum of Catalan Art located in Barcelona.

c. 1000–1200 C.E.

videos + essays

Collection in Focus: The Morgan Beatus
Collection in Focus: The Morgan Beatus

Take a closer look at this 1000 year old Spanish illumination.

The Painted Apse of Sant Climent, Taüll, with Christ in Majesty
The Painted Apse of Sant Climent, Taüll, with Christ in Majesty

Since the Middle Ages, the wall paintings from Sant Climent, Taull have dazzled, enchanted, and captured the imaginations of visitors from across the world.

The Cistercian Poblet Monastery
The Cistercian Poblet Monastery

This Cistercian abbey in Catalonia is one of the largest in Spain.

Teruel, mudéjar architecture of Aragon
Teruel, mudéjar architecture of Aragon

The development in the 12th century of Mudejar art in Aragon resulted from the particular political, social and cultural conditions that prevailed in Spain after the Reconquista.

Plaque with the Journey to Emmaus and Noli Me Tangere
Plaque with the Journey to Emmaus and Noli Me Tangere

The power that this sculpture has is precisely in the fact that it's not always concerned with naturalism and it's really concerned with telling a story.

Conservation: Cast of the Pórtico de la Gloria
Conservation: Cast of the Pórtico de la Gloria

In 1866, the Victoria & Albert Museum commissioned an Italian plaster maker to journey to Spain to make a copy of a monument of Romanesque art. See how the museum takes care of it more than 150 years later.

Camel from San Baudelio de Berlanga
Camel from San Baudelio de Berlanga

What a camel in New York reveals about medieval Spain.

Medieval synagogues in Toledo, Spain
Medieval synagogues in Toledo, Spain

These eclectic buildings embody the close ties between Muslim, Jewish, and Christian cultures in medieval Spain.

Virgin and Child in Majesty
Virgin and Child in Majesty

A serene Mary offers her draped lap as a throne for Christ. Her outsized hands direct the viewer to the divine.

“Throne of Wisdom” sculptures
“Throne of Wisdom” sculptures

These statues of the Virgin and Child often held relics. Designed to be mobile, they starred in parades and plays.

<em>Virgin from Ger</em>
Virgin from Ger

Delicate and brightly colored, this statue from Spain combines elegance with solidity, the human with the divine.

Circle of the Master of Pedret, <em>The Wise and Foolish Virgins</em>
Circle of the Master of Pedret, The Wise and Foolish Virgins

These frescoes covered the thick walls of a Romanesque church. Once isolated in the Pyrenees, they adorn a museum.

Selected Contributors