Resumen de A consideration on the two-tower facade of Santa Maria de Ripoll
Santa Maria de Ripoll, the cultural center of Catalonia in the middle age, has a two-tower facade which is hard to find in Catalonia. Most of the early Romanesque churches in Catalonia have no tower on the west facade since it was more common to have just one tower placed on the side aisles. Therefore, a question inevitably arises as to why the two-tower facade was adopted against the architectural tradition in Catalonia.
Some previous studies have suggested that the West-work in the Carolingian era is the architectural origin of the two-tower facade. The west façade of Santa Maria de Ripoll, however, is completely different from the West-work in that it does not have that tribune over the narthex, which is characteristic element of the West-work; thus, it can be said that the architectural connection between the two structures is, at least, weak.
The author will focus on the fact that abbots and monks of Catalonia often visited Rome after the middle of the 10th century, where the emperor and pope were attempting to rebuild the imperial Rome which had been symbolized by the city gate with twin towers. By doing so, the author wish to point out that the structure of the west façade of Santa Maria de Ripoll, contemporary with Odiron’s addition of two towers to Cluny II, should be related to the city gate with twin towers of ancient Roma in terms of symbolical meaning, and also that façade with two towers is evocative of the image of Heavenly Jerusalem since the city gate with towers was situated at the entrance of the walled city.
