Sangüesa - Santa María la Real

"Santa María la Real" is one of the highlights for all people following the "Camino Aragonés" - since about 800 years. The facade is impressing it may take hours, to find out the many details. I stayed an extra day, when I had reached the town, just to see the shadows movig over the carvings.

A church did exist here already in 1131 next to the bridge crossing the river Aragon. It was transferred by Alfonso I to the "Knights Hospitaller" (aka "Order of Saint John", later "Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta"). The apse is the oldest part of the structure and probably dates back to that time.

The nave and the breathtaking Southern Portal of Santa María la Real were created late 12th/13th century. I uploaded a "total overview" earlier and now will focus more on details.

A detail from the right side of the tympan, depicting the Last Judgement. The right side is actually on God´s left side, standing for the evil. - Here is the Weighing of the Souls (psychostasia). A large snake tries to pull down one side of the scale, held by the archangel. Beside the scale is the mouth of the hell, a nude couple is sinking into it. Below are the heads of the apostles, their fading names are written on the arches.

It seems that the artist knew the much older bas-relief from the portal in Artaiz (ca. 30kms west), as the hellmouth here has the same structure