The catholic church in Tendilla is dedicated to the Assumption of Mary, thus the name Iglesia de la Asunción. It was designed in the 14th century CE, financed with money from the Mendoza family, one of the most important clans at the moment. It was projected as a great work, possibly the biggest church in the area – though Tendilla is a tiny hamlet now, it was an important villa during the Middle Ages, and the counts that ruled the enclave were very invested in it.
The church was never finished – construction went on and off until the 19th century, when it was finally given up. Only one tower was erected, though two were projected, and this bell tower is separated from the building by a patio. The open area is actually a part of the nave that was not built in the end. The interior was decorated with a Baroque altarpiece, which still stands today.
Though still in use, the church has been gravely affected by time. The façade has greatly deteriorated in the last thirty years or so. The false floors have started collapsing and the roof is in dire need of repairs. The village is working on raising funds for a renovation.
A couple of relatives are very involved in the process, and at some point they offered to show me the inner areas of the church. I accepted, and was given the real VIP tour – they opened the church just for me too!
The temple is mostly Romanesque in style, aside from the Baroque altarpiece. The modern altar has been refurbished in marble. The altarpiece is golden wood, Baroque with columns, paintings and sculptures. To both sides of the altar, there are small rooms, connected to each other underneath the altar stairs. One of them has been transformed into the sacristy, the other one used to be an office, but now it is not in use because the floor is collapsing. Behind the altar, these two rooms give way to spiral staircases that ascend to the upper spaces, called La Gloria – Glory – and El Infierno – Hell – both of them unfortunately very abandoned and covered with pigeon excrement, feathers, rest of nests, and even dead pigeons. We climbed up to the Glory, but the Hell staircase is a bit unstable and crumbly, so we did not get far on that one. I scared the hell out of a pigeon though – it was mutual.
I climbed to the choir for a couple of pictures, and then we went up the bell tower together. It was a bit thrilling to do so, because I’ve seen that tower very often, but never gone up. It was all in all really cool – especially being alone and allowed complete freedom of pictures, including lightning and flash.
Afterwards, we went to the family home and had lunch. Later, in the yard, we “hunted” for the local fauna, including wasps, damselflies and wall lizards.
JBinnacle – A Travel Logbook 