Architectural Masterpieces Across Civilizations
Cathedral of Santiago Compostela (Romanesque)
The Cathedral of Santiago is a pilgrimage church with a typical basilica plan consisting of three naves and a large transept. The transept is divided into three naves with four apsidioles in its arms and a wide head, featuring a remarkable central apse and five radiating chapels. The central nave is covered with a barrel vault, reinforced by arches, while the transept has a dome in the middle. The apsidioles are covered with quarter-sphere vaults, and
Read MoreRenaissance Spanish Novels: A Guide to Genres and Styles
Renaissance Spanish Novels
Byzantine Novel
The discovery of Ethiopian manuscripts and their translations introduced a new subgenre to the Renaissance: the Byzantine novel. These stories feature a young, beautiful, and chaste couple separated and reunited by fate. Their journey involves overcoming obstacles such as pirates, shipwrecks, and captivity. In Spanish Byzantine novels, the hero is a chaste young man whose main objective is love, often transforming into a symbolic pilgrim figure.
Narrative
Read MoreMedieval Spanish Literature: An Overview
Medieval Spanish Literature
Narrative
Verse
Mester of Minstrelsy: Epic poems sung by minstrels. Focuses on heroic deeds and national sentiment. Example: Cantar del Mio Cid.
Mester of Clericia: Religious and didactic works written by clerics. Employs the cuaderna vía (four-line Alexandrine verses with consonant rhyme). Examples: Libro de Alexandre, Libro de Apolonio, Gonzalo de Berceo’s Miracles of Our Lady.
Prose
Early Prose (late 12th – early 13th centuries): Consolidated by Alfonso X “The Wise”
Read MoreMajorcan School: A Renaissance in Mallorcan Poetry
The Majorcan School: A Literary Renaissance
The Majorcan School, a literary movement originating in Mallorca in 1870, united Mallorcan poets with a shared cultural identity. While chronologically coinciding with the broader Renaissance and Modernist periods, the school’s distinct style marked a formal beginning to 20th-century literature in Mallorca, enduring until 1950.
Generations of Poets
Several generations of poets contributed to the Majorcan School, including:
- Miquel Costa i Llobera
- Joan Alcover
- Maria
Spanish Civil War Poetry: A Literary and Historical Analysis
Main Orientations of Civil War Poetry
Lyric poetry production significantly increased after the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), influenced by the 1936 ideological propaganda. Different moments in Miguel Hernández’s career are evident: from social poetry to pure poetry, and from aestheticism to avant-garde experimentation. Historical circumstances shaped these changes: the 1940s saw neoclassical (exaltation), nationalist (evasion), existentialist (distress), and avant-garde (continuation of pre-
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