Object type
mensa
Culture/period
Medieval
Materials
limestone
Technique
carving
Mint
Production date
900 / 1000
Seu
Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Olèrdola
Current location
Centre Interpretació
Archaeological site
Olèrdola. Església de Sant Miquel (sector 06)
Township
Olèrdola (Alt Penedès)
Dimensions
210 x 420 x 310 mm
Description
Read more
Fragment of an altar. Two fragments are preserved that probably correspond to the same piece (Reg. No. 356 and 673). Both have a double perimeter moulding raised with respect to the central part, smooth, with graffito inscriptions made with a punch on the stone that correspond to their own names. They do not have an order of distribution and the font is capital.
The first fragment, the largest, corresponds to one of the four angles. It is possible that it was recovered during some of the restoration work that was carried out in the Church of Sant Miquel between 1968 and 1971. It was found again in 1998 in the reserve collection of the Museum of Archaeology of Catalonia in Barcelona. The second fragment was located in 2007 during the excavations carried out in the church of Sant Miquel d'Olèrdola as part of the architectural restoration of the building. It was reused as a step to the current entrance to the west facade.
These are not the only documented fragments. Unfortunately, today there is no indication of the whereabouts of two fragments cited by M. Milá i Fontanals (1880, collected and identified as an altar by A. Pladevall in Volume XIX of the work "Romanesque Catalonia ") and therefore we cannot determine that it is the same piece.
The table must have been quite large. Rectangular in shape and over 20 cm thick. It is a considerable height if we compare it with altars from the same period. The altar of Sant Miquel is comparable to the ones from Mura (19 cm), Sant Feliu de la Garriga and Sant Andreu de Sureda (18 cm each) or Sant Julià de Coaner (17 cm). One of the thickest is that of San Pedro de Castellet, 30 cm.
As the two fragments are located out of context, we cannot specify whether it is the altar of the main altar of the pre-Romanesque church (consecrated by the Bishop of Barcelona Teodorico between 911 and 937) or of the Romanesque one (consecrated by the bishop of Barcelona Vives in 992), or maybe it was both.
Many high medieval altars have proper names engraved on the upper face. These may refer to the people who were present at the consecration of the building or they may correspond to the first deceased.
In the altar we can read the names: [E] RMENGAUDE, [....] Ofre, [...] IETO [...]. In the act of consecration of San Miguel and San Pedro of Olèrdola Castle (January 1 / March 24, 992) the names of Sunifred (Suniefredus) -Levite and promoter of the construction of the temple- are mentioned, among others-, Seniofred (Seniofredus) and Gaucefred (Gaucefredus). The specific attribution of the name to one of the signatories of the document is difficult. While Ermengauda or Ermegodo could be the sister of the Levite Sunifred (name that we know thanks to other documents), the ending Ofre could correspond to the vulgarized name of Sunifred, Seniofred or Gaucefred.
Image
3D Model
© Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Olèrdola
Omeka ID
2252