The Colegiata of Covarrubias: a historical, artistic and cultural legacy

'- What do I have to look for? Ileana asked him.

• Escape Time, leave Time. Look around you: they are signaling you everywhere. Trust them, follow them ... '(1)
  
  Located on the edge of a legendary river, the Arlanza, and in the vicinity of two invaluable historical landmarks, such as Santo Domingo of Silos and the unfortunately ruined San Pedro monastery -whose main entrance- is exhibited at the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid, having flown, however, its wonderful dragons and other extraordinary Romanesque paintings to the metropolitan museums of the New World, Covarrubias is one of those privileged places that offers - without the need for sophisticated gadgets or the obligation to resort to the eccentricities of HG Wells, but taking into account the advice of the protagonists of the fantastic novel by Mircea Eliade-, a little trip in Time.
  Its protagonism, along with Taranco -where the term Castilla is mentioned for the first time- and the unforgettable figures -that is why we have another universal jewel, such as the Romancero- of Count Fernán González and his wife, Mrs. Sancha, in the origins of that potential phenomenon that was and continues to be Castile -even without the figure in the present body of its most intimate chronicler, Miguel Delibes-, makes Covarrubias a place to savor something more than good bread, good wine and much better lamb: savor a succulent dish seasoned with an unprecedented mix of Art and History.
  
  And one of the most complete places, and of course, more recommendable to do it, is none other than the Collegiate-dedicated to the figures of the twin saints and doctors, Cosme and Damian, and that small but valuable treasure that is guarded with zeal in several rooms of its hermetic cloister, behind a headboard that still proudly displays the tombs of the aforementioned and charismatic counts.
  
  Indeed, these hermeneutical archetypes are left behind, molded to the Gothic style that defines this beautiful construction of the 15th century - there are no missing in the capitals of its herculean columns, pomegranates references to that submersion or emersion in the unconscious, as probably C.G. Jung would have considered the well-known green-men or green men that so many allusions contain the immediately previous style, such as Romanesque; or the ever-threatening presence of dragons or winged serpents, whose myth influenced so many of the medieval representations and legends; or the demonic faces, who watch vigilantly with clenched teeth, probably tired of looking without seeing, as Machado would say; the magnificent polychrome pulpit, with an instructive message included, supported by two fierce but at the same time ambiguous faucets; or even that artistic union of the opposites, genuinely represented in the Seal of Solomon of the oculus that rises above the choir, elaborated in such a way that in its center there is an octagon in which a beautiful cross is embedded- and a few meters away from the tomb where the mortal remains of an unfortunate Viking princess -Cristina of Norway-, sleep their eternal and legendary dream, guarded by the flag of the country that saw her born and the flag of the country where death awaited her, old dependencies capitulares accumulate an art of centuries, proclaiming in their charismatic solitude, an attention that undoubtedly deserve.
  
  It is not, therefore, trivial or exaggerated -and this is immediately understood when seen-, that in Covarrubias they feel proud of some of the valuable pieces that make up these microcosmic and comparatively speaking Ages of Man, focusing, above all, on that magnificent altarpiece of the Adoration of the Magi, attributed to Gil de Siloé -or his workshop-, or that wonderful Virgin of Wisdom, with a thousand and one details, the work of that remarkable flamenco teacher who was Jan van Eyck.
  
  But in this line, capable, also, of bringing out the most obstinate spirit of sensitivity, another Adoration of the Magi, less spectacular, perhaps, than that attributed to Siloé, but beautiful as well as few-independently of having been, could it is said that re-polychrome in a relatively modern age-, draws attention for the richness of its details and archetypes - where special mention can be made of the presence of a dog, an emblematic animal and generally a companion of goddesses with a complex chthonic character, such as Proserpina , besides being the form devised by Goethe, so that the Mephistopheles of his Faustus would appear, that is, that spirit of evil that, paradoxically, always ends up doing good-, which is located very close to where several Romanesque Virgins -between they the Virgin of Redonda and the Virgin of Mamblas-, they observe immutable and hieratic, authentic Theotokos or Throne of God, towards mythological universes that are p They go in the night of time, in front of some deteriorated figures, also Romanesque, that represent, among other relevant characters, San Antón and Santa María Magdalena.
  
  Of course, just unnoticed and with little pronouncement by the powers that be, another oil painting, anonymous and possibly of Flemish origin, like many other works preserved in this place, draws attention, not precisely because its theme is unusual, the Saint Dinner, but because in it, in a surprising, unexpected and totally escapist way to that authentic great brother who was the Holy Inquisition, invites us extensively to speculate.
  
  Notes:
  (1) Mircea Eliade: 'The Night of San Juan', Herder Publishing Company, S.A., 2nd edition, Barcelona, 2001.

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NOTICE: originally published on my blog ARTE, MITOS Y ARQUETIPOS, although the photographs and video are unpublished in Steemit. Both the text, photographs, and video (with the exception of music, reproduced under a YouTube license) are my exclusive intellectual property. The original entry can be found at the following address: https://artemitosyarquetipos.blogspot.com.es/2017/04/la-colegiata-de-covarrubias-un-legado.html

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