| |
|
Bárcena Mayor
ensemble |
|
To the West,
are the Saja and Nansa valleys, which make up a complete
whole in terms of vegetation, high and popular
architecture, ethnography and folklore. Being far inland,
these are the most unspoilt areas of Cantabria. In both
valleys one finds valuable ensembles of popular
architecture that are uniformly of the Baroque period.
Such houses are two-floored, with an entrance-way on the
ground floor, and a gallery running the breadth of the
façade on the first floor, sectioned by firebreak walls.
This type of house may be found in an isolated situation,
but usually stands adjacent to other dwellings so as to
form a neighbourhood. In the Saja valley, starting in the
vale of Cabezón, we may remark on the
perfectly-preserved architectural ensembles of Periedo,
Santibáñez and Cabrojo. As for high architecture, the casonas
of Carrejo stand out, with their coats of arms carved
in stone -especially the present Nature Museum, the
palace of Gayón in Santibáñez with its portico of five
rounded arches on its main façade, the Bodega palace in
Cabezón, the Gómez de la Torre palace in Casar and
further such buildings scattered throughout Ontoria,
Carrejo and Periedo. In the next vale, Cabuérniga, are
the architectural ensembles of Sopeña, Terán, Fresnedo,
Carmona, Bárcena Mayor, etc. There are also good examples of lay high
architecture of the same period, like the interesting casonas
with stone coats of arms and sun-oriented long balconies
in Renedo, Carmona, Selores, Valle, etc. Of all these, Mier Palace in Carmona stands out (also known as Rubín de
Celis Palace). In the Nansa
valley, travelling from North to South, one finds first
of all the district of Herrerías, where the medieval tower
of Cabanzón stands. The casona
of Rubín de Celis is in Cades. Camijanes has a
notable indiano house of the turn of the century.
In the small village of Rábago there is an interesting
small building, also of the turn of the century, that
shows a clear French influence in its mansardé
roofing. The popular architecture of this district is of
as high a quality as that found in the other valleys
described here. There are the remains of a medieval tower
in the district of Rionansa, too: the tower of Obeso. In
Cosío, Celis and San Sebastián de Garabandal there are
interesting buildings as well. Towards the South, the
next district along is Tudanca, whose most important
town in artistic terms is Tudanca itself. Tudanca was
officially declared a place of historical and artistic
significance in 1983. First, it is known for the Casona de Tudanca,
where the writer Don José María de Cossío lived, an
eminently erudite man who put together a splendid
library, a great collection of drawings, engravings and
paintings of widely varied periods and high quality, all
of which can now be visited. Important figures of
literature and the arts have been to this house at some
time or another (Unamuno, Alberti, Marañón, Cela...).
Nowadays it is a museum belonging to the Government of
Cantabria. Apart from the attraction of the Casona
museum, Tudanca is well worth visiting for its popular
architecture and its special flavour, still unspoilt.
Finally, in the upper reach of the valley is the village
of Polaciones, to which everything said above about the
popular and high architecture of this area can be
applied. Groups of country houses of considerable
interest stand here, as do various 17th- and 18th-century
houses with stone coats of arms in the villages of
Lombraña and Puente Pumar.
|
|
|
|
