The See of Egara – The paintings

One of the most outstanding elements of the See of Egara is the pictorial decoration covering the apses of the churches of St. Mary and St. Michael, and the frontal altarpiece of the church of St. Peter.

With regard to the paintings in St. Mary and St. Michael, the conclusions of the most recent technical reports produced by archaeologists, art historians, restorers and epigraphy experts suggest that the paintings and their architectural support are contemporaneous, and the paintings would therefore have been completed during the golden age of the Episcopal See of Egara, between the 6th and 7th centuries.

Saint Michael. Detail of the Apostles

Some of the iconographic elements represented reveal strong ties to the painting of the Eastern Mediterranean (Syria, Palestine, Coptic Egypt), and the paintings in Terrassa may therefore be seen as a unique and outstanding record of the incorporation of the Oriental Byzantine pictorial tradition. Given the evident connections with Byzantine repertoires, the paintings of the Episcopal See of Egara provide a source of documentation in understanding the artistic expressions of Christian culture in the 6th century.

St. Mary

The pictorial decoration is located throughout the surface of the apse, which given its structure forms an almost complete dome. The decoration is organised into five concentric registers demarcated by 4 strips of maroon colour. The overhead motif comprises two superimposed squares forming an eight-pointed star, around which we find decorative motifs with peacock feathers and a great laurel wreath. Both subjects have Christian roots, being linked to the Triumph and Resurrection of Christ, and appear in mosaics and illuminated manuscripts of Late Antiquity, such as the mosaic of the rotunda of St George of Thessaloniki and the Dioscorides of Vienna, a manuscript produced in the 6th century (c. 515).

Detail of the arrest of Christ

Scenes of St. Paul

Beneath this central geometric decoration we find the best preserved register, with scenes connected with the Passion of Christ. Some of these are visible to the congregation from the nave of the cathedral (the arrest of Christ, the denial of St. Peter and the handing over of the keys, scenes of St. Paul), while the others can be seen only from within the apse itself (crucifixion of Christ, death of Absalom). The second concentric register contained the representation of the enthroned Virgin, flanked by apostles and prophets.

St. Michael

The paintings in St. Michael feature two registers of pictorial decoration. Above is the representation of a theophany, in other words the image of the enthroned Christ in Majesty, within a mandorla supported by angels. The nimbus of Christ reveals the inscription "Emmanuel", meaning "God with us", emphasising his dual human and divine nature. One may imagine that the title Emmanuel was used to counter heresies denying the dual nature of Christ, such as Arianism, which spread across the Iberian peninsula in the 6th century.

Detail of the Apostles

Mural altarpiece of St Peter

The mural altarpiece of St Peter was discovered in 1895 as a result of the major restoration campaign conducted at the Church of St. Peter. It is one of the most outstanding works still to be found anywhere in the world, above all because of its conceptual design as altarpiece standing free of the apse wall, and entirely unusual approach in the mediaeval period.

The altarpiece covers the entire central lobe of the apse, featuring a mural painting with two registers divided by a wooden beam.

The lower part is rectangular, and contains a representation of the Crossing of the Red Sea. The semicircular upper part features a decoration with angels and cherubs in the foreground, and five niches containing St. Peter, St. Paul and the Tetramorph, the symbols of the 4 evangelists.