Art, Travel and Culture: a town of Soria called Monteagudo de las Vicarías

I arrived in Monteagudo de las Vicarías, after wandering around like a ghost frozen with cold on the deserted streets of Morón de Almazán. As I devoured the 26 kilometers, approximately, that separate both populations, I could not avoid that my thoughts were made a thousand and one cabals on some of the mysterious remains - I say well - located, causally or casually, that you never know, but about everything, thinking of the curious Marquis of Camarasa, and that philosophical abode of Medina Street - nowadays, converted into a branch of Caja Duero.

Detail this, fortunately - I reaffirm this, taking into account that Spain has never excelled, precisely because of its love for the preservation of the Historical-Artistic Heritage - it has not deteriorated -at least in the face of the gallery- the indecipherable, cryptic and Demonically enigmatic esoteric message that, you know why dark reason, it pleased the aforementioned Mr. Marquis, leave in sight of all, anticipating, at least four hundred years, the famous Rubik's cube.

Maybe that's what the Dominicans of the Holy Office must have thought when they made him die in a jail in Santiago de Compostela, no doubt frightened of the perverted hobbies of the lost nobleman.

On the other hand, the first impression one gets when approaching this picturesque town of Soria is to be in front of an imaginary conch shell, which descends in a spiral until it is buried in the firm ground of the valley.

In the highest part, as it could not be otherwise, two impressive buildings deploy, in an informal, even artisanal, much of the appeal of the town. It is the Gothic-Renaissance castle of the Mendoza family, and the church, Gothic also, of Nª Sª de la Muela.

Although the latter does not reach the degree of spectacularity displayed in the neighboring church of Morón de Almazán, the experts consider that it continued a model to follow. Model that also, in smaller scale, can be located in the nearby town of Serón de Nágima.

The castle, dated in the XV-XVI centuries, according to a poster, contains, however, some peculiarities, which may lead to suppose that, in some way, the architect of the relevant Mendoza family, flirted, perhaps inadvertently, with the esotericism, when for some unknown reason, he designed it with a markedly pentagonal plan.

It would not hurt, either, to add the detail that none of its towers is the same, being its plants circular, rectangular and even octagonal, depending on its sense of orientation. Apparently, something quite usual at the time, a passage communicated the castle with the church.

In the vicinity of the castle and the church, part of the main street, which ends some meters beyond the town hall, in a medieval door that is still intact, and by which you access a kind of terrace from which you have a good perspective on the part of the people, as well as the environment in which it is located.

In its external upper part, and placed inside a niche, the carving of an ancient, Romanesque and quite deteriorated Virgin, watches over the sleep of the neighbors and attracts the attention of the visitors. It is possible that it is the holder of the parish, Nª Sª de la Muela; Now, original or copy ?.

What I do not doubt, and at the time will be one of the issues on which to deepen, is that surely drag a miraculous medieval legend. It is difficult to specify what object it carries in your hand, although, by the characteristics, we can discard the traditional ball and advocate a flower - perhaps a lily? - or a small scepter.

Transversal to this main street, some streets offer historical elements of some interest, such as, for example, the Calle del Hospital, which gives us a true idea of ​​the place where it used to be located, and also some track -at least relative- on to whom it belonged or, failing that, who attended it, judging by the significant Tau cross that is seen in a nearby shield.

Significant, likewise, is the Plaza del Horno, which in the same way, offers us a reliable idea of ​​where the communal oven was located; in this case, in the vicinity of the church and the castle. Now, what other particularity assails the imagination of the surprised visitor, when one arrives at this small cubicle, because such a thing seems, encased between narrow streets?.

Undoubtedly, that unexpected magic circle that, made on the pavement, encloses in its interior the Seal of Solomon, also known as Star of David and unmistakable hallmark of the Jews, who must have had a relatively important community during the Middle Ages.

Here is a village, Monteagudo de las Vicarías, that invites you to be savored without haste, with an open mind and thinking that, in reality, it hides many more details than it seems at first glance.

Significant details, made on purpose to encourage curiosity, to bite the spur on the horse of the imagination and to make a visit, after all, become an entertaining vision of the past.

NOTICE: originally published, on my blog SORIA WAY WALKS WHEN WALKING. Both the text and the photographs are my exclusive intellectual property. The original entry, where you can check the authorship of juancar347, can be found at the following address: https://juancar347.blogspot.com/2011/02/monteagudo-de-las-vicarias.html

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