Description
Discovering the Romanesque of Álava
Book Summary
This work rescues from oblivion a valuable album of 167 photographs, the Inventory of the Romanesque in Álava, deposited in 1912 by the intellectual Federico Baraibar at the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts. Through these images, many unpublished until now, the reader will discover the medieval heritage of Álava just as it was between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A pioneering photographic work that, together with photographer Lorenzo Elorza, documents the evolution of Romanesque temples, some now disappeared, offering a unique source for art history and the visual memory of the territory.
What is it about?
The book revolves around the rediscovery of an exceptional photographic collection: the album that Federico Baraibar presented in 1912 as a systematic inventory of the Romanesque in Álava. For more than a century, this collection remained virtually ignored in the archives of the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts. Now, the authors recover and contextualize these snapshots, taken between the final years of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. The photographs, taken in collaboration with Lorenzo Elorza, not only show the original state of numerous Romanesque churches and hermitages, but also document architectural transformations and elements lost today. The work combines historical-artistic analysis with the reproduction of the images, offering an essential visual testimony to understand the evolution of the heritage of Álava.
Main themes
- Documentary and heritage photography from the early 20th century.
- Inventory and cataloging of Romanesque art in the province of Álava.
- History of the conservation and transformation of medieval temples.
- The figure of Federico Baraibar and his contribution to the knowledge of heritage.
- Rural Romanesque architecture and its evolution to the present day.
Who is it recommended for?
This book is aimed at art historians, specialists in medieval and Romanesque art, photographers interested in heritage documentation, as well as scholars and enthusiasts of the local history of Álava and the Basque Country. It will also be of great interest to any reader passionate about old photography and the visual memory of cultural landscapes.
What this book contributes
- Access to an unpublished photographic corpus of 167 images, rescued from the Academy of Fine Arts archive.
- A unique vision of the state of the Romanesque of Álava before the transformations of the 20th century.
- A rigorous analysis that links pioneering photography with art history and heritage conservation.
- Visual documentation of disappeared or heavily modified temples, of great value for research.
Technical specifications
- Author: Raquel Esteban Vega, Ander Gondra Aguirre, Gorka López de Munain Iturrospe, Isabel Mellén, Ortiz de
- Publisher: Sans Soleil Ediciones
- Language: Spanish
- Topic: Art History: Byzantine and Medieval Art c. 500, Photographs: Collections, Places in ancient photographs
- Collection: Pigmalion
- Binding: Paperback
- Publication Date: June 2019
- Number of pages: 300
- Weight: 800 g
Editorial review
This is a reference work for the study of the Romanesque of Álava, which provides first-rate photographic material that was previously inaccessible. The publication combines academic rigor with a visual approach that makes it attractive to both specialists and heritage enthusiasts. Its main value lies in the recovery of a unique visual memory, which documents a key moment in the history of medieval art conservation in Spain.