Las iglesias prefeudales en Álava. Cronotipología y articulación espacial

Abstract

This article constitutes a preview of a research project into pre-12th to 13th century churches in Álava, which until now had been invisible to traditional, analogical formal methodologies. It presents a new proposal of an analysis tested already in the cathedral of Santa María de Vitoria-Gasteiz and based along the following lines: 1. Lettura veloce of the main construction stages of temples chosen with the object of stratigraphically determining the phase or phases prior to the Romanesque period. 2. Identification and register of the most representative technical and formal variables of this first phase of construction in each of the churches in the study. 3. Numerical specification of selected variables. 4. Creation of an analytical table to register the presence or absence of these variables in each church. 5. Grouping together those buildings with variables in common. 6.Transformation of technotypological associations in chronotypological tables, i.e., chronological indicators. This has led to the identification of six groups of churches based diachronically between the 9th and 12th centuries. By way of conclusion, some interpretative considerations are put forward as to the nature of these pre-feudal period temples.