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first North Catalan artistic signs were those of Roman Art,
and these expressions remain in the area today – often intact.
Bell towers, cloisters, organ lofts and chapels are visible
at Elne, Serrabona and Saint Michael de Cuxa, Saint Martin de
Canigou and Marcèvol. Threatened in the past, these abbeys
are today part of a protected heritage. Catalonia in its entirety
is one of the active sources of Roman Art in Europe. This art
was prevalent from the year 1000 AD until around 1300 AD, in
an identical style north and south of the Pyrénées
and was usually the anonymous work of travelling artisans. North
Catalonia contains the most Roman buildings in France – close
to 300 such churches exist in the 226 small communities. The
churches, more modest than the grand abbeys, display their tympans,
lintels and portals to all.
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| Abbey
of Serrabona :
detail of capital |
At
the bend in a road, in a village or on a rural path Roman Art
is integrated daily. Its enlightened admirers come from all
over the world. This interest has been excessive in the past
however. At the beginning of the 20th Century the Abbey of St
Michael de Cuxa lost half of its cloister when it was exported
to the Cloisters Museum of New York, and where it remains still.
And while parts of the cloister of St Genis de Fontanes were
repatriated from the centre of France at the end of the 20th
Century, the Abbey of Serrabona remains deprived of its upper
organ loft, the upper gallery of the Cloister of Elne is also
missing. In a similar situation, although stripped by amateurs,
are the small Roman churches present on the plains and mountains
at Brullà, Ceret, El Voló, Serrallonga, Llo and
Càldegues. The first pearls of Catalan art – discreet
or imposing – these creations illustrate the pride of their
builders. Gothic Art, represented in Catalonia at the beginning
of the 14th Century, displays itself in Perpignan in the Cathedral
St Jean and the fortress-like Palace of the Kings of Majorca,
and in the churches La Real and St Jaume. The cloister of Arles
and the cloister of the Dominicans at Collioure are also representative
of Gothic Art. The historic shift that brought Baroque Art to
the region began in the 16th Century following the French annexation
of North Catalonia. This artistic revolution gave North Catalonia
hundreds of gilded altarpieces.
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