Basílica de Son Bou

Historic environment
The site of the Son Bou basilica is located in the municipality of Alaior, on the shores of the south coast of Menorca, near one of the largest and most visited beaches on the island. Only a small part of it has been excavated, but there is good knowledge of the existence of other buildings around the church. None of them has been able to be dated with precision and, therefore, it is not yet known if they are before, contemporary with, or after the basilica. In its surroundings, materials appear from the Roman period (2nd century BC / 5th century AD) to the Islamic period (10th-13th centuries AD). It has been argued that the existing well or cistern in the North wall of the vestibule of the church. A short distance away, numerous rock shelters and caves occupied during various periods are also documented.
The dating of the church has also created a lot of controversy in the scientific field. Founding dates ranging from the 4th to the 8th century have been proposed, although the 5th-7th centuries are the most accepted. The original function of the building is also not at all clear. It has been suggested, for example, that it could be part of a “village” or a monastery.
Some 35 m to the east of the basilica, a building with a circular plan was documented, with a semicircular perimeter wall 1.8 m wide. Its internal diameter was 4 m and it had a pavement made of lime mortar. Some 15 m further to the east, remains of a room with a similar flooring were discovered. Other walls and pavements also emerge around the place, some of which are disappearing due to the action of the sea.
Description
The Basilica of Son Bou is one of the best preserved in the Balearic Islands. As S. Alcaide summarized in 2011: “The church of Son Bou is a rectangular building with three naves and a tripartite apse, which is preceded on its western side by a vestibule. It is oriented from the southeast to the northwest. The total external length of the church is between 25.8 and 25.9 m, while its external width ranges between 12.6 and 12.9 m.
The entrance to the church was through a wide vestibule, which spanned the width of the church’s façade… Access from the outside was through three open doors on the front from the lobby. The dimensions of this space are about 12.5 m in length and between 3.7 and 3.8 m in width taken from the outside. The walls of the vestibule are made, like those of the church, from rough stone blocks bound with mortar. The thickness of these is about 0.9 m and is about 10 cm greater than those of the church.
The body of the naves is rectangular in plan and was separated from the head space by means of a wall that runs in a north-south direction, in which the entrances to the three areas of the latter open. The internal dimensions of the ships are: 15 m long; The central nave is 3.9 m wide, the south nave 2.85 m and the north side 2.8 m. The head of the church is triple and its plant is irregular rectangular. The apse is quadrangular on the outside and semicircular on the inside and is flanked by rectangular side chambers. These three spaces constitute an extension of the naves of the church, from which it is accessed through open openings in the wall separating the naves and the apse. The access to the apse from the central nave was probably covered by a large arch, supported by pilasters that were attached from the inside to its side walls. The chancel is slightly offset to the north in relation to the naves and the western vestibule. Its external width is 12.7 m, while taken from the inside it is 11.2 m. The outer length is 6.3 m and the inner length is 5 m. The apse measures 5.4 m wide on the outside and 3.4 m on the inside.
Currently, in the chamber to the north of the apse, you can see a small monolithic baptismal pool (up to 90 cm high by 140 cm wide), circular on the outside and cruciform on the inside. There are researchers who defend that it is not in its original place, while others affirm the opposite.
There are graves of various types inside the church and outside it, but only a few have been excavated. All those documented correspond to burials, among which adult and child individuals were documented.
Mateo Ribera Rullán for URBS REGIA
Other interesting information
Hours: Open all year, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Free entrance.
Bibliography
MARTÍ, F., (1954): La basílica paleocristiana de Son Bou, 9, Monografías Menorquinas, Ciutadella .
PALOL, P. de., (1967): Arqueología cristiana de la España romana, siglos IV-VI, Madrid – Valladolid.
ID., 1994: “L’Arqueologia cristiana hispànica després del 1982”, Actas de la III Reunión de Arqueología Cristiana Hispánica, Barcelona, 3-40 .
ORFILA, M. y TUSET, F., (1988): “La basílica cristiana de Son Bou”, en PALOL, P. DE (Ed.), Les Illes Balears en temps cristians fins els àrabs, Institut d’Estudis Menorquins, Mahón, 21-24 .
ALCAIDE, S., (2011): Arquitectura cristiana balear en la Antigüedad tardía (siglos V-X d.C.), Tesi doctoral de la Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Departament d’Història i Història de l’Art, Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa, http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/32933.
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