Santa Eulalia de Ujo Church in Asturias

When you see a Gothic or Renaissance church, it is easy to foresee that the temple could be an evolution of a Romanesque church, which over the centuries has expanded and grown.

But in the Central Mountain de Asturias you can see a different evolution of a old romanesque church, which was reformed as a result of the industrial development.

Specifically, I am referring to the church of Santa Eulalia, in the parish of Shy of the council of Mieres, whose original Romanesque building was modified at the beginning of the 20th century to facilitate the extension of the railway line to transport the then fruitful coal production.

I explain.

En Shy there was a small romanesque church which dates back to the 12th-13th centuries, with a single nave and east-west orientation, which was a stage in the Camino de Santiago through Asturias.

But in 1922, faced with the project to expand the railway line that passed next to it with more tracks, with the intention of promoting the transportation of coal from this mining valley, the decision was made to demolish the historic Romanesque church, and in exchange, build a new one with north-south orientation.

This new church of Santa Eulalia de Ujo It is the one that you can now see next to the railway station, in one of the main squares of this small town of Mieres.

But the curious thing is that when building the new church, it was decided to take advantage of three construction elements from the previous Romanesque one.

The most important is the old apse, which you will now see as a side chapel on the east façade of the new temple.

It was also reused The cover, which is now oriented towards the north, and which maintains the original sculptural groups. And finally, the arch decoration which appears relocated over the current apse.

Therefore, we cannot say that the current church of Santa Eulalia de Ujo It may be a Romanesque church, but it is a curious church that presents Romanesque elements.

Of course, during the visit to this church, the parish priest conveyed his complaints to us about the cracks that are forming in the church building as a result of railway traffic (the tracks pass very, very close to the building), which is not having answer of Renfe.

In the end will it be necessary to reform the church again to save it from a new possible demolition?

Here you have more photos of the church of Santa Eulalia de Ujo, In the Central Mountain of Asturias. Don't miss the black and white photo of the old Romanesque church, before its remodeling in 1922.