La decoración arquitectónica de San Cebrián de Mazote (Valladolid). Reaprovechamiento, imitación e innovación en el alto medioevo hispánico

Abstract

The construction of the church of S. Cebrián de Mazote occurred in one of the most confusing
periods of Hispanic art and architecture when the north-center of Iberia was being repopulated
and with the very probable participation of Mozarab artisans. The identification of properly
Mozarab plastic decoration, characterized by the fusion of diverse forms and traditions, even now
generates important chronological problems, however. This stylistic heterogeneity is aggravated by
the fact that many churches of this pertiod made frequent use of spolia together pieces made ex
novo, some of which imitated ancient models. Thus capitals of diverse types are found together,
so that elements that we might term properly Mozarab are not always identifiable or often are
relegated to secondary spaces. Spolia, in fact, occupy the most important and visible places in this
church, a practice we find in other early Medieval buildings in Spain. This circumstance, even when
the spolia are broken or eroded, raises the possibility of a symbolic interpretation, namely that the
builders sought to establish an ideological connection to the old Visigothic kingdom.