Finishing of flooring and interior finishes of the Parish Church of Santa María Magdalena
The church of Santa María Magdalena has a Latin cross plan, with a single nave with side chapels
Finishing of flooring and interior finishes of the Parish Church of Santa María Magdalena
The church of Santa María Magdalena de Ciempozuelos whose construction began in the late s. XV or early XVI, has a simple plant of a single nave, with a stylized bell tower. During the seventeenth century, the church was significantly enlarged with the construction of a baroque brick head. The modifications that this temple has undergone since its construction, fundamentally since the last two centuries, had distorted its physiognomy. The restoration works developed in recent years have returned to this church its original appearance, achieving recovery both inside and outside.
The church of Santa María Magdalena has a Latin cross plan, with a single nave with side chapels, covered by a slightly pointed encamonada vault. The presbytery, of greater height than the nave, stands out within the ensemble, which is configured as a large centralized volume decorated with a brick dome, while the arms of the transept are covered with screw vaults compartmented by rectilinear moldings. In a third arm, facing east, the main altarpiece is located. The interior decoration is very sober. It is articulated with fine pilasters that run through the walls ending in a Doric order without ornamentation.
To the outside, the building presents a construction based on mixed factories of masonry drawers and brick pillars, a system that is repeated in the buttresses that are located in the north, south and west facades. The presbytery is built following the same construction parameters up to the height of the roofs of the nave, from which the headboard is entirely made of brick that is finished with eaves and covered three waters in the arms of the transept, while the dome that covers the main chapel has a hipped roof, culminated by a spire of slate and lead.
The most outstanding element of the set is its bell tower. The tower is a body of great height and slenderness almost free standing at the foot of the ship. It is made with well squared ashlars of white limestone, similar to the stone of Colmenar, and topped with a spire to four waters that contributes to give great sensation of slenderness. Both the use of limestone ashlars and the height of the tower make this volume remarkably contrast with the rest of the temple, which has a significantly lower height.
The construction of the present parochial church had to begin at the end of Century XV or principles of XVI. The construction of the tower was carried out between 1567 and 1575 by the hands of the Trasmerano stonecutter Hernando de Pineda. In 1612 the original presbytery was modified and the one that today is conserved was built, following the classic precepts of the Madrid baroque. The original walls of this volume are reinforced in their plinth with a thickening that proportionally responds to a strengthening action.
During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the temple underwent alterations that altered its original appearance, being very serious the damages suffered during the Civil War and significant reforms carried out by the General Directorate of Devastated Regions. The church had lost its original cover, as well as the finishes and top finishes of the walls. In addition, changes had been made that affected functionality, such as the closure of the south access to house the heating boiler or the partition of the sotacoro to build support spaces.
Image gallery
The presbytery stands out
Recovery of temple facades
Pechina Detail
The most outstanding element of the set is its bell tower
Restaurants
Since the year 2006, different interventions on the temple have been made. In this year, restorations of some furniture elements were carried out, such as the main altarpiece, with its large canvas by Claudio Coello, and two anonymous seventeenth-century canvases that adorn the transept.
In the year 2008 the works of integral restoration of the dome of the presbytery, the restoration of the wooden armor of century XVI and the recovery of the facades of the temple began. These last ones supposed to return the original image of the external finishes, which implied the demolition of the double modern facade that hid the walls of the nave of the XVI, as well as the restoration of the buttresses of that facade. The brick walls of the head and body of the sacristy have also been restored, as well as the west façade and the entire tower, both externally and internally, including the spire.
In the year 2015 it was detected that the humidity of the subsoil had reached a very significant height (in many points, up to two meters), leading to the destruction of the coatings and the disappearance of the paint.
The intervention of these pathologies was complemented with the installation of a new heating system in 2016. This has consisted of replacing the obsolete boiler with a radiant floor system, much more respectful of works of art. This has involved the construction of a new boiler room. In addition, the entire nave has been flooring with limestone, except for the chapels.
Archives
informe_visita_ciempozuelos.pdf (1.06 MB) Inner_Remote_Fase_iii.pdf (1.36 MB)