Santa Cristina de Lena

Church of St. Christine of Lena Iglesia de Santa Cristina de Lena (Spanish)

Basic information
Location	Lena, Spain
Geographic coordinates	7\|38.4\|N\|5\|48\|51.5\|W\|region:ES-O_type:landmark	name= }}
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Province	Asturias
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	Inactive
Heritage designation	World Heritage Site
Architectural description
Architectural type	Church
Architectural style	Pre-Romanesque
Direction of façade	NE
Groundbreaking	7th century
Completed	852
Specifications
Length	16 metres (52 ft)
Width	12 metres (39 ft)

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Monuments of Oviedo and the Kingdom of the Asturias
Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List

Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iv, vi
Reference	UNESCO region	Europe and North America
Inscription history
Inscription	1985 (9th Session)
Extensions	1998

St Christine of Lena (Spanish: Santa Cristina de Lena) is a Roman Catholic Asturian pre-Romanesque church located in the Lena municipality, about 25 km south of Oviedo, Spain, on an old Roman road that joined the lands of the plateau with Asturias.

The church has a different ground plan to Pre-Romanesque's traditional basilica. It is a single rectangular space with a barrel vault, with four adjoining structures located in the centre of each facade. The first of these annexes is the typical Asturian Pre-Romanesque vestibule, with a royal tribune on the upper part, accessed via a stairway joined to one of the walls. To the east is the enclosure with the altar, with a single apse, foregoing the traditional Asturian pre-romanesque triple apse, and going back to Visigoth influences. To the north and south respectively, there are two other enclosures through semicircular arches and barrel vaults, whose use was associated with the Hispano-Visigothic liturgy practised in Spain up to the 11th century.

One of the most particular elements of Santa Cristina de Lena is the existence of the presbytery elevated above floor level in the last section of the central nave, separated from the area intended for the congregation by three arches on marble columns. This separation, which appears in other Asturian churches, is not repeated in any other with a similar structure. Both the lattices over the arches and the wall enclosing the central arch were re-used from Visigothic origins in the 7th century.

Gallery

View from the outside
View from the outside
Nave and chapel
Floor map of the church

References

Commons has media related to Church of Santa Cristina de Lena.

Pre-romanesque art in the Kingdom of Asturias

Pre-Romanesque art in Asturias is framed between the years 711 and 925, the period of the rise and extension of the Kingdom of Asturias.

Architecture

1st period (737 to 791)	Santa Cruz de Cangas de Onís Church of San Juan Apóstol y Evangelista

2nd period (791 to 842)	Cathedral Basilica of San Salvador Pilgrimage church of Santiago de Compostela Church of San Tirso Church of San Julián de los Prados Church of Santa María de Bendones Church of San Pedro de Nora Church of Santiago de Gobiendes Cámara Santa of Oviedo

3rd period (842 to 866)	Church of Santa María del Naranco Church of San Miguel de Lillo Church of Santa Cristina de Lena

4th period (866 to 910)	Church of San Salvador de Valdediós Church of Santo Adriano de Tuñón

5th period (910 to 925)	Church of San Salvador de Priesca

Infrastructure

La Foncalada

Major figures

Minor arts

Spiritual legacy

v t e World Heritage Sites in Spain

For official site names, see each article or the List of World Heritage Sites in Spain.

North West	Caves of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain¹ Monuments of Oviedo and the Kingdom of the Asturias Roman Walls of Lugo Route of Santiago de Compostela¹ Santiago de Compostela Tower of Hercules	North East	Caves of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain¹ Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon Pyrénées - Mont Perdu² Rock-Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula¹ Route of Santiago de Compostela¹ San Millán Yuso and Suso Monasteries Vizcaya Bridge

Community of Madrid	Aranjuez Cultural Landscape El Escorial University and Historic Precinct of Alcalá de Henares

Centre	Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida Archaeological Site of Atapuerca Ávila with its Extra-mural Churches Burgos Cathedral Cáceres Cuenca Heritage of Mercury. Almadén and Idrija³ Las Médulas Rock-Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula¹ Route of Santiago de Compostela¹ Salamanca Santa María de Guadalupe Segovia and its Aqueduct Toledo Prehistoric Rock-Art Sites in the Côa Valley and Siega Verde

East	Archaeological Ensemble of Tarraco, Tarragona Catalan Romanesque Churches of the Vall de Boí Ibiza (Biodiversity and Culture) Palau de la Música Catalana and Hospital de Sant Pau, Barcelona Palmeral of Elche Poblet Monastery Rock-Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula¹ Serra de Tramuntana Silk Exchange in Valencia Works of Antoni Gaudí

South	Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzín, Granada Cathedral, Alcázar and Archivo de Indias, Seville Córdoba Doñana Renaissance Monuments of Úbeda and Baeza Rock-Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula¹

Canary Islands	Garajonay San Cristóbal de La Laguna Teide National Park

¹ Shared with other region/s ² Shared with France ³ Shared with Slovenia

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Santa Cristina de Lena