San Salvador de Priesca, a Legacy of Pre-Romanesque Art in Asturias

When San Salvador de Priesca was awarded the title of "National Monument" in 1913, historians referred to the church with labels that are now somewhat out of use, such as "Hispano-Christian" or "Latin-Byzantine". Only gradually did the term"pre-Romanesque art" become established to group together works that did not fit in with classical antiquity or the mature Romanesque. Works of very good workmanship, full of symbolism and a refined sense of space, such as Salvador de Priesca in the municipality of Villaviciosa.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the "Monuments Commission of Oviedo" said of this church that "history remained silent about it for centuries", as it did not seem to appear in wills, documents or chronicles of the time (in fact it was already mentioned in the "Testamentum" of Ordoño II). At that time it was only known with certainty that it had been devised by a priest called Juan and that it was consecrated in the year 921, as it appeared on the epigraph of a tombstone. This date was enough to draw a major conclusion: the temple belonged to the period when the court of the Kingdom of Asturias was transferred to León, after the death of Alfonso III the Great. Located in the village of Priesca, a few kilometres from the town of Villaviciosa, it is therefore a living vestige of the last constructive stage of the Asturian monarchy.

Today, as in the past, it is an obligatory stop on the Coastal Route to Santiago (Camino del Norte). The Asturian Pilgrim's Way, declared a World Heritage Site in 2015, owes its recognition to churches like this one, which served as spiritual epicentres for an entire territory, providing rest and refuge for pilgrims for centuries.

According to the experts, it borrowed from the great works of the time of Alfonso II, reinterpreting them with an austere architectural language adapted to the rural environment. The same would be true of other contemporary rural churches such as Santiago de Gobiendes or San Adriano de Tuñón. However, recent studies also argue that the design of San Salvador de Priesca responds to complex mathematical concepts, inherited from classical traditions such as those collected by Vitruvius. These concepts are even superior to those used in buildings from earlier periods, which has led some to reject the supposed "decadence" of later pre-Romanesque architecture.

It has a basilica plan. Semicircular arches separate the central nave from the two side naves. Three naves end in three corresponding apses, the main one supporting a closed and "mysterious" room above it, which can only be accessed from the outside through a mullioned window. This is a distinctive feature of the Asturian pre-Romanesque style, the purpose of which is still unknown, although it could have served as a reliquary, a treasure chamber or to fulfil structural and symbolic functions. This detail connects this church with other temples of its time such as San Miguel de Lillo or San Salvador de Valdediós. The ornamental splendour of the latter is also repeated in the capitals of the main chapel of Priesca, with its rough but evocative vegetal decoration: acanthus leaves sharp as spears and ribs resembling fish bones.

Its three chapels are intimate spaces, majestic in their simplicity, from which the clergy kept their distance from the faithful thanks to barred or splendid stone gates - one of these gates can be seen in the Archaeological Museum of Asturias. Of its mural paintings, only faded and scattered remains remain after the fire suffered in 1936. In the central nave there is an elongated plinth on which there is a representation of a palace with its courtyard outlined in perspective. Another palatial courtyard was painted in the south aisle. At another point there is a male figure depicted in a crude manner. The rest of the paintings are geometric motifs similar to those preserved in San Julián de los Prados.

The church of San Salvador de Priesca is one of those places that seem to be out of time. We will find it in a very quiet corner of eastern Asturias, the one that is never overlooked by those who walk in search of the tomb of the apostle St. James. A point of cultural and spiritual interest whose quiet grandeur reminds us that the past is never as far away as it seems.