The Romanesque Church of Sant Martí d'Ars

Sant Martí d'Ars is a Romanesque monument in the municipality of les Valls de Valira, included in the Inventory of Architectural Heritage of Catalonia. The parish church is a single-nave building with a slightly irregular floor plan, skewed toward the Gospel side and built with irregular masonry. The apse is square and covered by a barrel vault, separated from the nave by a triumphal arch. The nave is covered with wooden rafters and has side access on the Epistle side.

Adjacent to the skewed part of the Gospel wall rises a circular bell tower with twin windows and arches at the top. Rising three stories above the church roof and neighboring buildings, the two upper floors are built with irregular masonry arranged in rows and feature smooth capitals. It is crowned by a conical slate roof with a row of Lombard-type blind arches and small spouts. The bell tower, which has a defensive character due to its upper spouts and first-floor features, is likely the most relevant element of the church. Its cylindrical structure makes it one of the few examples of Catalan Romanesque of this typology, similar to the design of the tower of Santa Coloma d'Andorra.

The types of openings and ornamental elements in the walls provide data for dating the building to the 11th century. However, the building maintains a deep link with pre-Romanesque construction traditions, which are manifest in the type of floor plan, the square apse, the triumphal entry arch, and the type of masonry. The church was first mentioned in the act of consecration of the Seo d'Urgell in 839.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons