The Pyrenees Feature

The Alta Ribagorça Oriental includes the east bank of the Noguera Ribagorçana River and the Llevata and Noguera de Tor valleys, the Pyrenees' richest concentration of medieval art and architecture. The unity of design in the Romanesque churches here is the result of the sponsorship—and the wives—of the Counts of Erill, who left their spouses to run local matters while away fighting in the Reconquest. The women brought in Europe's leading architects, masons, sculptors, and muralists to build and decorate the churches. To what extent a single eye and sensibility was responsible for this matched set of churches may never be known, but they all share a miniaturistic tightness, eccentric or irregular design, and slender rectangular bell towers that fit perfectly into their surroundings.