SAN MARTIN DE AMPURIAS

During Late Antiquity, the surroundings of Emporion were populated, as evidenced by the suburban churches scattered around the ancient city. Indeed, from the 4th century onwards, in the suburban area of this city ––then uninhabited–– a whole series of sites were detected, basically necropolises and churches, which have been interpreted by some researchers as a testimony of the population that, from the middle of the 3rd century, it abandoned the old pomerium of Emporion.

Throughout the 5th century, the small hill of Sant Martí would become the unifying center for part of this population, and very probably also for the episcopal headquarters, which would be seen in the fortified elevation the most suitable place to seek the refuge that the circumstances of the moment required. In this regard, the description made by J. M. Nolla in 1993, p. 214: “Sant Martí offers an optimal place to accommodate the small city that has resulted from the long and serious crisis; It is located on a small elevation that is easy to defend and well protected by the sea[…] Nothing has changed in relation to the territory of the city with which it is perfectly connected. These circumstances justify the choice of the place, more suitable than the area of the Neapolis or the northernmost sector of the Roman city, much more difficult to defend and, in the case of the last place, poorly communicated with the port […] The Ampurias of Late Antiquity is, above all, a fortress and a port, the political center of an active and balanced territory, but where there are not large spaces public buildings, entertainment buildings or anything similar that recalls the distant era of the Low Republic and the early years of the Empire. And yet nothing more is necessary. A small, well protected and dynamic center and a bustling suburban territory are enough”.

Indeed, during Late Antiquity, the old Paleápolis of Emporion ––current center of Sant Martí d’Empúries–– was the object of profound urban modifications. To these was added the construction of a solid wall ––at the end of the 3rd century or at the beginning of the 4th–– that surrounded and fortified the hill where this renovated urban fabric was located, which most likely included an ancient cult building where today stands the Basilica of Sant Martí.

The current church of Sant Martí de Empúries, of late medieval construction, appears documented from the Carolingian period, during which it was the seat of the County of Empúries. Historically, it has been the parish of the small population nucleus that it presides over, a condition that is maintained today. The basilica consists of a single nave and is partly built with recycled materials from the Greco-Roman city. Above its door, with a pointed arch, it preserves epigraphs commemorating reforms: from the old church from the 10th, 13th and 16th centuries. It also conserves in its interior an early Christian altar table, dateable within the IV-V centuries, from which the same chronology has been postulated for the origins of the Christian temple, the remains of which have not yet been located archaeologically.

In the year 843 this church already appears consecrated to San Martín de Tours, before which it has been proposed that Sant Martí could have been the cathedral temple of the Visigothic period. This thesis seems reasonable, not so much because of the dedication argument but, above all, because of thethe fortification of the urban nucleus on which the church sits and due to the urban reforms carried out carried out during the 4th century, which make sense and could be justified within the framework of the creation or relocation of the primitive emporitan episcopal seat, documented in the texts at least since the year 516.

Pending an archaeological intervention in the basement of the church of Sant Martí, the main indication likely to be associated with the existence of a late-antique temple ––besides the aforementioned altar table and the reuse of ancient construction material, something that could indicate that a pagan temple had been located in the place–– is the presence of a late-antique necropolis within the walls of the old urban nucleus, evidence that would be revealing the presence of a contemporary Christian temple, radiating from said necropolis. From all of the above, it can be deduced that late-antique origins for the church of Sant Martí d’Empúries are very probable – if not almost certain – which probably formed part of the episcopal group of Emporion</i > from the Visigothic period.

To a later chronology (10th century) corresponds the marble tombstone with an inscription that is preserved -in two similar fragments- embedded in the wall, over the entrance door of the church of San Martín de Ampurias, and that demonstrates the existence of , in the year 926, of a Church dedicated to Saint Martin.

Jordina Sales-Carbonell for URBS REGIA

-Nolla Brufau, J. M. 1993: “Ampurias en la Antigüedad Tardía. Una nueva perspectiva”, Archivo Español de Arqueología, 66, p. 207-224.
-Nolla Brufau, J.M. 1995: “Els cementiris tardo-antics de la Neàpolis emporitana”, en IV Reunió d’arqueologia cristiana hispànica, Barcelona, 99-105.
-Tremoleda Trilla, J., 2007: “La seu episcopal emporitana” “Les esglésies emporitanes”, en El cristianisme a Empúries: dels orígens a l’Església actual, ed. N. Amich, X. Aquilué y J. Monturiol, Girona, 24-27, 34-38
-Sales Carbonell, J., 2012: “Sant Martí de Empúries”, en Las Construcciones cristianas de la Tarraconensis durante la Antigüedad Tardía: Topografía, arqueología e historia, Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, 252-253.
-Nolla Brufau, J. M.; Tremoleda, J. (Eds.), 2015: Empúries a l’antiguitat tardana, Monografies Emporitanes, 15.2, 2 Vols., Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya-Empúries, Girona.

Iglesia parroquial de Sant Martí d’Empúries

Sant Martí de Empúries

Parróquia de Sant Martí d’Empuries