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© Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Olèrdola
Omeka ID 2315
Olèrdola
Medieval

altar mensa with inscriptions

MAC OLE-00673

Object type
mensa
Production date
920 / 1000
Fabric
-
Museum
Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Olèrdola
Culture
Medieval
Discovery location
Olèrdola. Església de Sant Miquel (sector 06)
Materials
limestone
Township
Olèrdola (Europa, Espanya, Catalunya, Barcelona, Alt Penedès)
Technique
carving
Where is it?
Reserves
Dimensions
210 x 310 x 210 mm
Description
Altar table, fragment. It has a raised perimeter edge. A double moulded bead separates the flange from the inside. It has several inscriptions on the upper face. Two fragments are conserved that probably correspond to the same piece (no. MAC OLE-000356 and 000673). Both have a double perimeter moulding raised above the central part, smooth, with engraved inscriptions made with a punch on the stone that correspond to proper names. This fragment was located in 2007 during the excavations carried out in the church of Sant Miquel d'Olèrdola as part of the architectural restoration of the building. It was reused as a step to the current entrance to the west facade. Unfortunately, today there is no indication of the whereabouts of the two fragments cited by M. Milá I Fontanals (1880, collected and identified as an altar by A. Pladevall in volume XIX of the work "Catalunya Romànica"), and we cannot determine that they are part of it. The table must have been quite large, rectangular in shape and over 20 cm thick. It is a considerable height if we compare it with altars from the same period. The altar of Sant Miquel is comparable to those of Sant Martí de Mura (19 cm), Sant Feliu de la Garriga and Sant Andreu de Sureda (18 cm each) or Sant Julià de Coaner (17 cm). One of the thickest is that of Sant Pere de Castellet, measuring 30 cm. As the two fragments are located out of context, we cannot specify whether it is the altar of the main altar of the pre-Romanesque church (consecrated by the Bishop of Barcelona Teodoric between 911 and 937) or of the Romanesque one (consecrated by the Bishop of Barcelona Vives in 992), or maybe it was both. Many high medieval altars have proper names engraved on the upper face. These may refer to the people who were present at the consecration of the building or they may correspond to the first deceased.

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