SERRABLO CHURCHES

LOCATION

• Locality: Orna
• Where: Village centre
• How to get there: From the N-330,Sabiñánigo to Huesca, at Hostal de Ipiés take the turn-off for Javierrelatre, followed by the turn-off for Arto, and continue on until you arrive in Orna.
• Signposting: –
• Spatial orientation: At the end of the village

You will find the 12^th Romanesque church on a pretty and picturesque site at the centre of Orna, a village that has kept the vernacular architecture of the area.

The Church is the best example in the area of Jaca Romanesque architecture.

With the same structural layout as other Romanesque churches, Saint Michael’s also has a rectangular nave, semi-circular apse and a bell tower that was built later. The most interesting part of the Church is the apse which is heavily decorated. The apse has a central window, similar to the one in the south wall, that is a semi-circular arch emphasised with the Jaca chessboard pattern, which continues on the rest of the wall. At the top of the apse wall, just under the roof there is a frieze of small Lombard arches, two of which extend to become small columns.

The entrance, located in the south wall, is a semi-circular keystone arch, which is decorated with a moulding in the Jaca chessboard pattern. Like actual capitals, the imposts that round off both jambs are large and are decorated with geometric motifs, as well as bird and plant motifs.

There was a Romanesque shrine in the ruins at Usieto, on the outskirts of the neighbouring village of Latrás. A beautiful Romanesque sculpture of Our Lady of Ubieto survives from that shrine; it is held alternatively between the churches at Latrás and Orna.