BASILICA DE SANTA EULALIA

The church of Santa Eulalia is one of the monumental spaces most loved by the people of Merida, the temple and the Martyr, its patron saint, are part of the daily life of the residents in the city. In 1990, the ecclesiastical authorities decided to carry out works to improve and refurbish the historic building, works that lasted until 1992. In order to comply with the work and heritage regulations, as well as to understand the history of the place in depth, archaeological excavations of the site were undertaken. inside the building until exhausting all the secrets kept underground financed by the General Directorate of Heritage of the Junta de Extremadura.

Despite the enormous difficulties of an intervention such as the one proposed and the complexity inherent in a complex archaeological record, the project was a success in every way. Part of the information obtained can be appreciated in the interpretive space created and in the musealization of the excavated area.

Despite the fragmentary state of the exhumed remains, somewhat conditioned by the reuse over some 1800 years of the same physical space, it has been possible to make an interpretation of the historical-archaeological sequence of occupation of the place, taking it from a domestic space to a sacred area. . This sequence can be summarized as follows:

• Between the 1st and 3rd centuries, a peri-urban Roman house was built and occupied. The house underwent numerous reforms over three centuries.
• From the 4th century the site was used as a necropolis. Emeritense Christians buried themselves in simple tombs and luxurious mausoleums. Among them, under the head of the temple as Prudencio wrote, stands the one erected in memory of Saint Eulalia.
• In the 5th century the basilica dedicated to the Martyr was built, keeping her tomb under the front wall. </ li>
• From the year 875 the building remained deserted, given the departure of the Meritense Christians to Badajoz.
• Once the city was recovered for Christianity, the temple was rebuilt with late Romanesque and Gothic features.
• Numerous reforms took place during the 15th, 16th and 18th centuries.

The Basilica of Santa Eulalia is a beautiful temple with a long and complex history that can be read both in its walls and in its basement, which can be explored in its entirety as if it were a crypt. After the recovery of the city, the lost Christian cult was restored once the temple was rebuilt. Part of the apse walls were used for the new church. The walls of the naves were built new in 1230 from the foundations, with slight changes in orientation with respect to those of the Visigoths, although maintaining the basilica structure of the previous one. The three large naves are separated by interesting ogival arches supported by composite pillars, ending in two front ends, the central one much more developed than the lateral ones. The south and north portals, with a marked flare, have a structure typical of late Romanesque buildings; more simple is the northern opening, which ended up being the access to the Chapel of the Miraculous made in the sixteenth century., which ended up being the access to the Chapel of La Milagrosa built in the 16th century.

In the 15th century, a great reform of the interior space took place, which notably altered the roof of the temple from times of repopulation. Vaulted structures replaced wooden frames, a magnificent coffered ceiling whose ornamentation even includes muqarnas.

In the 16th century, the Monastery of the Freylas of the Order of Santiago was built attached to the west flank of Santa Eulalia, forming an interesting religious complex between the two buildings. The works involved new modifications in the medieval temple. The last major work took place in the 18th century, when it was erected as a dressing room attached to the central front wall, following the trend of Baroque art.

The pulpit and the altarpiece of the head are works of remarkable artistic quality, they deserve to be contemplated.

Santa Eulalia was a burial place for Emeritenses since the 13th century, first outside and, from the 16th, inside. The main families deposited their deceased in the temple until well into the 20th century: funerary chapels and mausoleums appropriated part of the space, some of them having been recognized thanks to the archaeological excavations carried out.

Next to the southern flank of the basilica stands the so-called “Santa Eulalia Hornito”, highly venerated by the citizens. It is a small chapel already standing in the 15th century, but transformed in the 17th century. It is a quadrangular building on the outside and semicircular on the inside. On the vault stands a dome with a lantern. A portico made with marble from the Roman temple dedicated to Mars finishes off the work.

Víctor Cibello for URBS REGIA

Barroso Martínez, Y. y Morgado Portero, F.: Iglesia de Santa Eulalia de Mérida, Mérida 2008.
CABALLERO ZOREDA, L. y MATEOS CRUZ, P. 1993., “Trabajos arqueológicos
en la iglesia de Santa Eulalia de Mérida”, Jornadas sobre Santa Eulalia de Mérida, Extremadura Arqueológica III, Mérida.
– MATEOS CRUZ, P. 1999, La basílica de Santa Eulalia de Mérida. Arqueología y urbanismo, Anejos de AEspA 19, Madrid.

Turismo de Mérida
Consorcio Ciudad Monumental de Mérida