Spanish art and architecture:

Aside from important prehistoric remains, including cave paintings at Altamira and at Cogul, near Lleida (see Paleolithic art), the earliest monuments date from the Roman occupation (3d cent. BC–5th cent. AD). Little remains of the works of the Visigothic period (6th–7th cent.), although crude classical motifs were used, especially in the decorative sculpture. Such Visigothic monuments as the Church of San Juan de Baños in the province of Palencia (AD 661) suggest a possible Middle Eastern influence in the use of a flattened horseshoe arch.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Early Works
• Moorish and Asturian Influences
• The Romanesque Period
• The Gothic Period: Architecture
• The Gothic Period: Art
• The Renaissance and Mannerism
• The Baroque Period
• The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: The Classic, Romantic, and Modern
• The Decorative Arts
• Bibliography

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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