Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos
Santo Domingo de Silos Abbey (
History
The monastery dates back to the
The abbot designed the church to have a central nave with two side aisles and five chapels attached to its apse and transept. When Santo Domingo died in 1073, work on the church and the cloister was handed over to Abbot Fortunius, who saw the rest of the construction to its completion.[3] The church was subsequently rebuilt by the neoclassical architect Ventura Rodríguez.[4]
In 1835 the abbey of Silos was closed, along with other monasteries in Spain. Benedictine monks from Solesmes in France revived the foundation in 1880.[5]
Romanesque architecture and sculpture
The two-storey
Abbot Domingo's successor, Abbot Fortunius was in charge of the construction of the north gallery and the original west gallery. After completion of two of the galleries and the beginning stages of construction of a third gallery, Fortunius was forced to halt construction on the cloister due to the influx of pilgrims coming to visit Abbot Domingo's shrine. Additionally, construction on the cloister was halted for several decades because of political and economic difficulties during the period of 1109 to 1120. As a result of this interruption, it is clear that the west and south galleries are of a different style than the east and north galleries, which seem to indicate that a second, different workshop was hired after the intermission in construction to finish the work on the cloister.
The organization of the cloister consists of four squared-off piers at each corner and paired columns running along each of the
The southeast corner's pier relief depicts
The paired columns along each side of the cloister each share a capital. Each capital's decoration is unique, and they contain a variety of animals, foliage or an abstract design. Due to the later date of their creation, the capitals on the second story of the cloister depict narrative scenes. All of the east gallery's capitals and most of the capitals in the north gallery were carved by the same sculptural workshop. The east gallery was the first to be finished, and it was followed by the completion of the north gallery. After the intermission of construction on the cloister, work was resumed in 1158. The south gallery was completed soon after, and the newly reconstructed west gallery was the last side of the cloister to be finished. Before the west gallery was completed, plans were made to construct the second story of the cloister. It is believed that the lower story's sculptural style is of better quality than that of the upper story.[8]
Library
Together with the library of
Silos scriptorium
Some manuscripts from the Silos scriptorium are preserved at the British Library in London and the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. One of the major books produced in the abbey was a finely illuminated Beatus manuscript (a commentary upon the Apocalypse); the text was completed (by two related monks) in 1091, but the illuminations (illustrations) were mostly done later by the prior, who finished his work in 1109. These include an important map of the Mediterranean regions. This is now in the British Library, having left the monastery by the 18th century.[10]
Music in the abbey
The monks originally sang Mozarabic chant. At some point around the eleventh century they switched to Gregorian chant. In 1880 the abbey became a member of the Solesmes Congregation, which has a strong tradition of singing Gregorian chant. The singing at Santo Domingo de Silos has been influenced by the scholarship and performance style of Solesmes Abbey.
Recordings
Gregorian chant
The monks of Silos became internationally famous for singing Gregorian chant as a result of the remarkable success of their 1994 album Chant, one of a number of recordings by the choir which have been released commercially.[11]
Chant peaked at #3 on the
Mozarabic chant
Along with Ensemble Organum,[13] the monks of Silos are one of the few choirs to have recorded Mozarabic chant, for example on a 1970 album for German early music/baroque label Archiv Produktion.[14]
Access for the public
The cloisters and pharmacy are open to the public. Visitors are also able to attend services such as vespers in the abbey church. Access to the library is restricted to researchers.
References
- ISBN 9789004181298
- ^ ""Saint Dominic of Silos", Franciscan Media". Archived from the original on 2019-06-24. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
- ISBN 978-1-78491-253-6
- ^ "Art and History in Silos", Turespaña
- ^ "The Spanish abbot who liberated Christian slaves", Catholic Herald
- ISBN 0-7011-2239-0
- ^ "Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos", Durham World Heritage Archived April 2, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
- JSTOR 3050835.
- ISBN 84-505-7144-8, pp. 749–754
- ^ "Silos Apocalypse". British Library. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
- ^ Selective Chant Discography Archived 2011-07-25 at the Wayback Machine. The Gregorian Association
- ^ "Ave Maria". Gramophone. 1996. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
- ^ "CHANT MOZARABE. Cathedrale de Tolède XVe siècle. (Mozarabic Chant. Toledo Cathedral 15th century)".
- ^ Altspanische Liturgie (Ancient Spanish Liturgy); Misa Mozarabe
Sources
- ISBN 0-7011-2239-0
- Álvaro Castresana López, Una inscripción hermética en el claustro románico de Santo Domingo de Silos: un díptico elegíaco inédito", en Latinidad medieval hispánica / coord. por Juan-Francisco Mesa Sanz, 2017, ISBN 978-88-8450-708-2, págs. 425-430.
External links
Monasterio de Santo Domingo de Silos
- Official website
- Silos Beatus' Apocalypse information, zoomable image British Library website
- Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos Photos in Paradoxplace
- The Art of medieval Spain, A.D. 500–1200, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos (see index)