Valladolid: The apse of the Muriel church collapses without known causes | Culture

The apse of the church of Muriel de Zapardiel (Valladolid, 100 inhabitants), with Romanesque and Mudejar components, collapsed this Monday without apparent reasons, according to the Archbishopric of Valladolid. The temple of Nuestra Señora del Castillo, with a base linked to the 11th century and later retouched, has suffered this serious damage that has left the interior of the church exposed in the form of a gap several meters high and wide in this Asset of Cultural Interest and National Monument. The collapse has not caused any personal injuries, despite being in a busy area of ​​the town and that there is usually worship inside the building, and it joins other recent episodes of destruction or deterioration of the heritage of Castilla y León, a community rich in this aspect but with difficulties in managing it. Three weeks ago, part of the wall of Salamanca also fell and in this same province some ancient ruins of a 12th century fortress were razed to the ground by a farmer.

The collapse has overwhelmed the municipality and the Archbishopric of Valladolid has reported on the social network Sources from the religious entity explain that the event occurred around eight in the morning on Monday, and that this same Sunday there was mass at one in the afternoon, hours before the heritage disaster.

The Heritage Delegate of the Archbishopric, Juan Carlos Álvarez, has explained that a specific cause is not yet known and that events like these are usually due to the “conjunction of several factors.” “It is a catastrophe, we were there in June and July and we saw the church inside and out and there were no signs of this situation,” said Álvarez together with the Minister of Culture, Gonzalo Santonja, who has also referred to what was experienced in Muriel as a “disaster”, asking for time to gauge the reasons for the collapse “There are more things than what is initially seen.” The General Director of Heritage of the Board, Juan Carlos Prieto, and the territorial delegate of the Board, Raquel Alonso, attended with them. The person in charge of this area in the Archbishopric has stressed that “the most important thing is not only to remedy the collapse, but to know the causes to stop them” and has reported that the temple will be closed: “We are going to close the church for safety and to carefully analyze the situation and in collaboration with the City Council we will look for where to carry out the worship tasks.”

For Miguel Ángel Tena, from the Association in Defense of the Heritage of Valladolid, “it is terrible news.” And he adds: “We found out this morning and we still do not know what has happened for this collapse, it is a great loss for the Mudejar of Castilla y León.” Tena recalls that in this depopulated community there are many churches or heritage elements in danger and that prevention and action against them is failing: “There is a lot of heritage existing in small towns and that unfortunately are at risk, as we have just seen from an asset that supposedly had no problems but that has collapsed. We will have to wait to find out the causes, whether it was dampness or another problem.” The group highlights its usual demands: “More prevention and preventive maintenance on assets.”

The fall of the wall of Muriel’s apse joins recent episodes of heritage destruction in the community. Recently, there have been two cases in the province of Salamanca. One, in the city, with the partial collapse of part of the old charro wall in the vicinity of the renowned Calixto and Melibea orchard, and another in Naharros del Río, where a farmer who owned land destroyed the ruins of a 12th century castle that had a protection category as an Asset of Cultural Interest, under regional jurisdiction.