Parish Church of Our Lady of the Snows in Manzanares el Real
Asset of Cultural Interest in the category of Monument
It was erected at the end of the XNUMXth century in Manzanares el Real, under the support of the Catholic Monarchs and the Mendoza family, and is testimony to the spread of technical advances and aesthetic tastes that developed in the great Toledo workshops of the time.
The church is a reflection of an interesting artistic moment in which two languages and architectural styles converge: a late Gothic manifested in its main chapel and an incipient Italian Renaissance repertoire, which applies new structural and decorative trends in the body of naves and the arcaded gallery. .
With some elements of its first construction stage attributed to the Spanish-Flemish master Juan Guas and a purist and sober artistic language, related to the focus of Toledo, the church of Nuestra Señora de las Nieves is positioned as an outstanding heritage asset whose artistic and cultural values They allow us to understand the historical evolution of the municipality of Manzanares el Real.
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Historical-artistic context
Manzanares el Real experienced its greatest growth and splendor in the Middle Ages, especially after the repopulation processes of the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries; although remains have been documented in the area dating back to the Neolithic, as well as settlements from the Bronze Age and Visigothic and Roman periods.
At the end of the 1275th century, Manzanares was geographically located within poorly defined limits that had led to constant clashes between people from Madrid and Segovia. The "Real de Manzanares", created by King Alfonso X in XNUMX, recognizes the right to communal uses for both parties, but fails to end the disputes between inhabitants, so a century later, Juan I constitutes a mayorazgo and grants possession of the same to the Mendoza house, who will promote the construction of a castle to use it as a residence and control the territory.
This primitive construction was later replaced by a castle-palace built by order of the XNUMXst Duke of the Infantado, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza. By having architects of the stature of Juan Guas, the castle gave importance to the town and is today considered an identity symbol of the municipality. With the expansion promoted by the XNUMXst Marquis of Santillana, Íñigo López de Mendoza, a small Mudejar church dedicated to Santa María de la Nava, precedent of the current temple, was integrated into the fortress.
The construction of the church of Nuestra Señora de las Nieves, at the end of the XNUMXth century, is part of a period of intense construction activity as a result of an improvement in the economic situation and an increase in population. A significant number of churches are erected in the Madrid territory, with the taste of the moment, in some cases improving the previous modest Mudejar churches or replacing them, in other cases, to achieve buildings of greater capacity and constructive quality. The result of this process was a juxtaposition of architectural styles, where it is observed how the main chapels are usually covered with starry vaults as a preferred place with symbolic implications, while the new Renaissance currents evidenced in arches and capitals are introduced in the naves. The roofs continue with the Mudejar tradition of wooden frames; giving rise to an architecture of great historical and cultural interest.
In the 14th and 1769th centuries, the church suffered several damages, the most important due to a documented fire on May XNUMX, XNUMX, which affected the spire of the tower, the coffered ceiling and the baptistery chapel, substantially modifying its original appearance.
patrimonial values
The church has a floor plan made up of three naves with a wooden roof and a choir at the foot, a polygonal chancel, an arcaded gallery, a bell tower and a chapel located next to the chancel. Around 1495, the head of the church began to be built on the existing building, establishing the chronology of the building in several successive phases that range from the end of the XNUMXth century to the middle of the XNUMXth century, combining two marked artistic and architectural styles: late Gothic and Renaissance. .
Juan Guas and the master builders of Toledo
The chancel has a starry ribbed vault with double tiercerons and crossing ribs where flat keystones decorated with pictorial motifs are located. Its design is attributed to the Spanish-Flemish master Juan Guas (1430-1496) or to one of his disciples or workshop, according to the geometric and architectural studies on the vault carried out by R. Maira Vidal. Juan Guas had worked at the same time in the Castillo de los Mendoza and is considered one of the greatest representatives of Castilian late Gothic.
Remnants of wall painting
Remains of mural painting appear on both the west wall and the intrados of the window located on the north wall, dating from the end of the XNUMXth century, whose design in the form of Gothic tracery is reminiscent of those found in the Palacio del Infantado in Guadalajara. and in the gallery of the castle of Manzanares.
Likewise, a fragment of mural painting from the north wall of the apse is preserved, transferred to a new support, which represents the goddess Athena, as an allegory of war and the arts. According to Dr. Manzarbeitia, it could refer to the Mendozas as lords of the town and promoters of the temple.
Body of the Renaissance naves and gallery
The church has a tower from the beginning of the XNUMXth century with three bodies, two built in masonry similar to the rest of the church and the third in granite masonry. From the same period are the arcades of the body of naves of the church, with semicircular arches built with granite voussoirs and the arcaded gallery with eight basket-handle arches in granite masonry. Both arcades have a different aesthetic, showing an incipient Renaissance style with a sober and purist line, in keeping with the focus of Toledo.
Other elements to highlight are the baptismal font from the XNUMXth century and the set of five tombstones, decorated with heraldic, plant and epigraphic motifs, belonging to a late Gothic period.
Image gallery
Photography: Maria Latova
Wall painting in the Community of Madrid
The publication collects the most representative of the rich heritage that constitutes the mural painting of our community, covering all historical periods, and compiling the most outstanding examples existing in cultural property of public and private ownership, both religious and civil. In total, it shows more than 150 representations, arranged chronologically and analyzed in detail.
Parish Church of Our Lady of the Snows
The paintings discovered on the west wall and in an arrow slit on the north wall represent a Gothic tracery with a decorative motif of quatrefoils with cardinas or acanthus and lozenges made in grisaille, which are cut out in a three-dimensional dramatic manner on a reddish background under a frieze of balls. This design pictorially reproduces a section of the tracery of the balustrade of the Palacio del Infantado in Guadalajara and is similar to that of the gallery of the castle of Manzanares itself designed by Guas for the Mendozas. Another fragment of special interest due to its artistic conception and its mythological and symbolic content is a black brush sketch of the figure of the goddess Athena Promacos. Its symbolic connotations as an allegory of war and the arts are related to the power of the Mendozas and their intellectual protagonism in the introduction of the new humanistic elements of the Italian Renaissance, with artistic value and nobility representation, which burst onto the scene. Spanish late medieval This fragment has been transferred by the stacco technique to a new support and placed inside the temple, replacing a copy of it in its original place.
Santiago Manzarbeitia Valley
Excerpt from the book Wall painting in the Community of Madrid
