The Art Historians Speak and what Happens Next

We finished Munzerama 1.0 on July 11. In the future, we hope to continue to follow Münzer's journey in the same manner to its conclusion. Please stay tuned. Any remarks so far are welcome!

As an art historian, what have I learned from this short journey so far?

The most obvious thing to me is that what was important to a 15th century visitor has little or nothing to do with the canon of quality that art historians have defined in the past century and a half. We have postulated important works and given the most importance to what has been academically defined as "Major Arts," i.e. Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, with such items as metalwork, textiles and ceramics relegated to a less important, minor status, not to mention painted and gilt trim on tombs and altarpiece frames, etc. In the past two decades, this whole issue is beginning to be redefined. Certainly in the late Middle Ages, price, effectiveness of function and the maker's skill and reputation in his profession were the great determinants. As far as religious architecture and objects are concerned, they were considered of a piece within the rituals of which they were a part, not as stand-alone "works of art." That they move us now has much more to do with our own cultural priorities and resonances.

This is equally true of the secular visual adornment market, which will be dealt with and made clear as Münzer's journey continues.

Secondly, there is no static "finished state," even when religious or other buildings were being constructed. Churches were continually modified over they centuries, parts destroyed intentionally or unintentionally and parts modified because of changes in ritual (and this is equally true, by the way of Christian churches and Jewish Synagogues). Since the mid-19th century, there have been modifications of another nature, as attempts to restore older churches have led to the purging of later additions, or the restoration of abandoned or degraded structures according to what can be surmised from documentation are undertaken. The Girona Cathedral we see now is quite different from what Münzer would have seen: in 1494, the building would have still had the Romanesque facade of the former structure that it gradually replaced (the Romanesque cloister is still retained). The east end of the nave would have been partially blocked by choir stalls. Many of its illustrious tombs would have probably been brightly painted with gilt detail, and certainly in better shape than they are now. Other altarpiece would have adorned its many chapels in both ambulatory and nave, and would have remained gated as they still are but also covered except when in use. Lighting, of course, would not have been electric, but rather hanging lamps. In short, the church would have been more adorned rather than the great, cleaned-up rather austere nave space we see today, though pews for the laity would have been non-existent.

In many other locations, reconstruction has gone much further. More will be said about this as we proceed.

What Münzer Never Would Have Seen in Girona

Today, Girona is one of the richest cities in Spain and, as in the case of any modern European city with older roots, has stretched far beyond its early, walled confines to contemporary urban sprawl. There is no knocking at gates or having them closed with guards at night.

The population has changed again. Though when Münzer was in Girona there were few, if any Muslims (and those probably servants) and no Jews in the call, so recently famous as a center of Kabbala studies. Now there are jewish bookshops and Jewish tours, but few, if any Jews. As for the "Moors," there is indeed a large population of mainly North African Muslims, as well as immigrants from further south in Africa. People are always on the move.

The medieval sections have, of course also been modified. Any moderately open space is crowded with cafés. As is the case everywhere in Europe, Tourism rules in the summer.

Munzerama: What Münzer could have seen in Girona

Munzerama: What Münzer could have seen in Gironahttp://books.google.es/books?id=6LzjVY5LFNoC&pg=PA287&lpg=PA287&dq=Girona+Cathedral+Silver+altar&source=bl&ots=of8tSPk0HV&sig=n1IqqE2uqzG5w2QLBySHu5xMmas&hl=es&ei=Dn85TOTjMoqRsAa0t6jvBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDQQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false

What Münzer could have seen in Girona

Girona Cathedral's Retablo Mayor is from the 14th century, and is made of silver with enamel and gold (we showed a photo of it in an earlier post. This is the only large medieval altarpiece of such precious materials that is still in its original place and still serving its original purpose, though it has had a turbulent history (a full description of it and the cathedral by a later traveler, Julian Street [1911] gives some idea of its place and impact (see link). Perhaps the reasons that Münzer doesn't mention it is that it was already 150 years old and therefore out of fashion, and that there were still many others in precious materials to be seen.

In Münzer's time, there were numerous others of gold and silver; perhaps that is why he doesn't mention this one. The side chapels and those in the ambulatory also housed numerous altarpieces, ordinarily covered by curtains when mass wasn't being said in them. The Cathedral certainly had a treasury; Münzer mentions no tour of it, as he does in later church visits.

Münzer could have walked on the narrow streets of the call, or Jewish quarter, which by 1494 would have been devoid of Jews.

Picture: Girona's "Call."

Munzerama: What Münzer Saw in Girona

Munzerama: What Münzer Saw in Gironahttp://www.catedraldegirona.org/

What Münzer Saw in Girona

Münzer mentions Girona Cathedral--here a view in the ambulatory. When he was there, the interior would have been largely complete (the present façade is 18th century), with its unique combination of an apse with ambulatory originally conceived as a three-aisled church, but finally concluded, after consultation with a large group of architects, as a vast single-naved one; and until 1936, the view down the nave would have been partially blocked by an enclosed choir.*

He also speaks of the river (the Onyar) that "runs through it." The river divides the old town from the new. From Münzer's description, there would have been houses on both sides, but the main town was on the Cathedral side.

As in the case of all the towns and cities that Münzer visited at this time (including so far Perpignan, le Boulou, Figueres and Girona), each would have been surrounded by walls with fortified gates (we've shown remains of these fortifications at Le Boulou and Perpignan's city gate).

*For a discussion of these choir stalls, see Justin E.A. Kroeson, Staging the Liturgy, the Medieval Altarpiece in the Iberian Peninsula, Louvain, Peeters, 2009, p. 219 and fig. 149)

Pictures: (1) Girona Cathedral, Silver Retablo Mayor; (2) Portionof Girona's walls; (3) the Onyar River that divides the city; (4) Girona cathedral, ambulatory vaults.

Münzer in Girona

1494: "The 20th, after traveling five leagues from Figueres, we arrived at an ancient and noble city called Girona, with an Episcopal see and a very famous cathedral, where Saint Narcissus, its first archbishop, shone with his miracles. It is like two cities that are separated by a quite clean river.

What Münzer Would Never Have Seen--Perpignan to Figueres

Two fortresses that Münzer never saw were the replacement for the Tower of La Guardia at Pertus and the Castell in Figueres. Both are 18th century structures on the great citadel model, that of Figueres being the largest of all. There are no images lf La Guardia's early tower, and the Castell at Figueres actually sits on the site of an earlier convent' no one seems to know what earlier castles existed near in the latter city.

As for le Perthus (known as Pertus in Catalonia) site of La Guardia, this is probably "El Port" that Münzer mentions. When researching for this journey, we couldn't even find a reference to la Guardia, until we realized that the name of the modern fortress was the castle of Bellegarde near the modern town. It is, of course, the fortress built to definitively redefine the frontier between France and Spain when the Roussillon reverted once more to French rule. Le Perthus is no longer a frontier mountain pass; it has all the modern characteristics of a border town, even under the European Union, with souvenir shops galore, and lots of tourist car traffic--especially now in July.

As for remnants of 15th century life along this route, few if any exist. This area, from Perpignan to Figueres is now prime tourist territory. The N-9 and A-9 (France) and NII and A-2 highways now replace those narrow mountain defiles that Münzer and his companions had to traverse slowly on horseback. The towns themselves have many more modern layers, including in the cases of Perpignan and Figueres suburban subdivisions. Figueres is dominated by the cult of Salvador Dali, including his enormous museum. In Figueres, as well, the center of the city boasts, as do many Catalan towns, "la Rambla," a nice pedestrian thoroughfare, unthinkable in medieval times. Only weekly markets (here in Le Boulou) evoke an earlier time, though the people strolling around are very definitely contemporary--as are the supermarkets and fast-food outlets on the town's periphery.

Pictures: (1) and (2) - Dali Museum, Figueres; (3) Figueres - "La Rambla" (4) Le Boulou - Thursday Market; (5) "La Guardia" - view of early fortress in 16th century; (6) Figueres - Castell de San Ferran (1751); (7) Castle of Bellegarde (le Perthus) (completed 1679)

What Münzer could have seen Perpignan to Figueres

Besides the fortresses Münzer mentions on this road, there were several interesting churches that he could have seen. Here we show only two: The Romanesque church at Pollastres,* just south of Perpignan, and the exterior of the church of Sant Pere, Figueres. Sant Pere was badly damaged in 1936, and its interior largely reconstructed. The third picture is the interior of Santa Maria de Castelló d'Empuries, constructed principally in the 14th-15th centuries. Münzer definitely did not have time to visit this town, about ten miles east of Figueres, but this interior does give a good idea of Catalan churchs of the period.

Even in their altered states, these two building reflect the typical Catalan churches of their times.

*"Pollastres" in Catalan means "Chickens," and one of its squares has a chicken statue!

Pictures: (1) Figueres, Sant Pere (exterior); (3) Castelló d'Empuries, Santa Maria; (3) Pollastres, parish church.

What Münzer Saw on the Road from Perpignan to Figueres

The distance between Perpignan and Figueres is 28 miles. It took Münzer the entire day to make this journey. At this time, there were few large towns along the way, so Münzer marks the distances by fortresses. Of the four he cites, La Boulou, La Guardia, La Junquera and Figueres, the only one that has tangible remains to this day from 1494 was at La Junquera, and that is the fragment of a ruin. Le Boulou's castle is completely demolished, but a small section of the city walls of the period remain.

The difficult trail through the mountain passes of the Pyrenees has been supplanted by modern roads, but the spectacular mountain views remain.

Pictures: (1) The Pyrenees; (2) Le Boulou - fragment of city walls; (3) La Junquers - fortification fragment.

Münzer On The Road: Perpignan to Figueres

Münzer's Account:
1494:"The 19th of September, leaving Perpignan, after traveling three leagues along the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains, we arrived at a castle that has the name of Le Boulou, and through the mountain defile that is called El Port, or the mountain pass, penetrating by a very rough, nearly impassable and abrupt path, and passing on the right La Guardia, a handsome fortress on a very high peak, having passed all these mountains, we penetrated into Catalonia, by the castles of La Junquera and of Figueres."

A word from the Art Historians: Perpignan:

As art historians we value many objects and sites that Münzer and his contemporaries would have taken for granted. Altarpieces in churches, for example, would have been part of the furniture unless they were brand new or of precious materials, or if they had some sort of special religious reference. There is, for example, a carved 15th century retable of the Virgin in the church of St. John the Baptist that I, as a 15th century specialist find interesting. If Münzer even visited this church, he never writes about it, much less its ornamentation. And even if he were there, retables were generally covered by curtains unless mass was being said at the high altar or chapel.

Also, Perpignan was a major stopping place for the eastern branch of pilgrims' route to Santiago de Compostela. By the 15th century, this pilgrimage route was far less vital than it had been in centuries past--Rome was more important now. Münzer never mentions Perpignan or any of the other pilgrimage towns that he would later visit in western Spain as such, and his only citation of Santiago in connection with the pilgrimage at all was a disparaging one when he describes the city's permanent citizens: "the people are so dirty—they have many pigs that they sell at a very cheaply—and so lazy that they only concern themselves minimally with the cultivation of the land, and live in general from their earnings from the pilgrims."

You could say that the narrow streets of the old part of Perpignan still wind in their convoluted way as they did in Münzer's day, though the street names and many of the old buildings have been modernized. Distinctive to the region are construction methods and the wooden shutters.

Pictures: (1) Porch of St. Jacques; the saint of Santiago de Compostela. The present church on this site was begun in the 14th century. (2) Detail of facade of the Casa Sanxo, a cloth-merchant's mansion begun in the early 16th century. It's type of stone work is typical of earlier medieval Perpignan architecture; (3) Retable of the Virgin, Dominican Chapel, late 15th century.

What Münzer Would Never Have Seen

What Münzer Could Never Have Seen

Modern Perpignan is, of course far bigger than its original walled entity, and its surrounding walls long demolished. Münzer stayed outside the walls at a noble's estate. This is probably now engulfed by the Perpignan expanded urban area.

Today, since Perpignan is part of France and, by extension the European Union, produce comes from all members of the union and beyond, and the cloth manufacturing trade has long been outsourced to less expensive places. On the other hand, local wine is still produced, though the sweet, heavy muscats have largely given way to local dry wines of the Roussillon region, such as the red grenache blend we enjoyed this evening at an al fresco restaurant.

One other note: street signs and tourist markers are bilingual: French and Catalan, in tribute to Perpignan's Catalan past, but very few people here speak Catalan! French rules, and so, rightly does France.

Pictures: (1) Red wine in an outdoor restaurant; (2-3) a contemporary wine-bar and its "produce;" (4) European Community produce in a supermarket.

What Münzer could have seen

What Münzer Could Have Seen:

Münzer probably would not have entered the Palace of The Kings of Mallorca, built in the 14th century. Its access would have been limited to the military and the nobility, and, in 1494, this were still precarious, though Ferdinand and Isabella had stayed in the palace the previous year.

He could, however, have seen the city gate (though he stayed outside of the city), a vestige of the walls that encompassed the city in the 15th century, as well as such artisan's shops as this modern carpenter's atelier (with an old sign)

The old part of Perpignan has undergone so many modifications, including the extensive revision of street names (sometimes several times over the centuries), so that it is difficult to reconstruct the ambiance of the late 15th century.

Pictures (top to bottom): (1) A modern carpenter's shop in the old part of the city, with a medieval-model shop sign; (2) The "Castellet," originally a gate in the city walls, now a natural history museum; (3) Exterior of the Palace of the Kings of Mallorca.

What Münzer probably saw in Perpignan

What Münzer Probably Saw in Perpignan
Though Münzer would later climb the highest tower in key locations to "contemplate the view" as a true cartographer, he apparently did not do this in Perpignan, where his visit was rather brief. Perpignan had only recently returned to Hispanic rule under the combined realms of Fernando and Isabel in 1493--Juan II of Aragon had previously ceded it to the Kingdom of France several decades before in exchange for aid in his civil war against the Catalans (and Münzer erroneously reports the change in regime to 1492). He does not mention, nor would he have been able to enter, the big Fortress of the Kings of Mallorca built under Jaume II, which was now a defensive bastion against French attack, though its fortified profile dominates the medieval city.

What he did remark on was the relative flatness of Perpignan, which made it fertile, and the fact that it was surrounded on three sides by mountains. He also discussed the
richness of local produce, and the cloth industry.

He also talked about the church of Santa Maria, still under construction. Here we reached a bit of an impasse: there were two churches dedicated to the Virgin, a smaller chapel Nostra Senyora dels Angels, formerly part of a Franciscan convent (and now a museum), and Santa Maria la Real, the parish church for the fortress. Most of the late medieval construction in Perpignan dates from its heyday in the 14th century, and we were unable, on an admittedly short visit, to determine when the vaulting on its 14th century churches, Saint John the Baptist, Saint James, the chapel of Nostra Senyora dels Angels, and Santa Maria la Real were completed. Santa Maria del Real has been given a 19th century facelift (including the nave vaults that Münzer mentions), though its basic plan is Catalan Gothic, and it is this church that we have elected to show here with all its modernization.

In spite of the fact that the garden and grape vines that we show here were from just a bit further south, crop layouts and the products haven't changed much, so we show them here.

The pictures, top to bottom: Grapevines (1) Santa Maria la Real, plan (actually a modern fire-exit map) (2 and 3) Grapevines and a garden near Perpignan; (4)Santa Maria la Real Interior; (5) Street market with peaches and apricots; (5) A view of Perpignan with surrounding mountains from a tower of the Palace of the Kings of Mallorca.

Perpignan According to Münzer

1494:" The 17th of September, after traveling nine leagues [a league equals 2-3 miles], from Narbonne we arrived at Perpignan, a famous town. At the foot of the Pyrenees Mountains, there exists a very pretty plain, seven leagues long and seven wide. The Pyrenees Mountains surround it at the north, south, and west; to the east is the sea. This plain is called the county of Roussillon. It has around a hundred cities, castles, and fortresses, and its principal city is Perpignan. The land is famous for all sorts of produce, principally the delicious Muscat wine. This city resembles, in my opinion, Ulm, with its merchants and its fine woolen cloth. The most outstanding church is the one dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, recently built, but not totally finished. I never saw such high arches."

"In September, which was when we were there, one could find in plenty pomegranates, oranges, grapes, figs, almonds, loquats, peaches and other innumerable fruits. Truly, a meticulous observer would believe it to be a paradise."

"This county, thirty years ago, belonged to the jurisdiction of the King of France, who received it as a pledge from the King of Aragon. But in the year of the conquest of Granada, the King of Spain reclaimed it, it was returned with good will by the King of France, and presently it is under the Spanish scepter."

Prologue: July 6

We are two on the Perpignan-Girona section of the journey. Myself, (Judith Sobré) and Julio Benitez, my former student and now art historical colleague.

We are in Girona, and will head up to Perpinyá (Perpignon) shortly. Stay tuned!

Münzerama

In 1494-1495, Cartographer and Physician Hieronymus Münzer and three friends from Nuremberg made a trip through Spain and wrote about it. Follow us as we make their journey in the 21st century. We will post Münzer's observations, then our own, with photos of what is there now and how things have changed. We begin the quest on July 5!