The parish tower of Viver (ca. 1611), a faithful reflection of the bell towers of the cathedrals of Albarracín and Segorbe
(on the 775th anniversary of the Episcopal See of Segorbe)
The tower of the parish church of Viver is a prismatic building with a square floor plan, approximately 29 metres high and 8 metres wide, not including the top. Despite its imposing appearance, history and architectural importance, the building has two tombstones embedded in its walls, one Roman and the other from 1608, referring to the Fuente de la Asunción fountain, which was renovated in 1619 and is still preserved. It has survived to the present day completely truncated, considering the extensive damage it suffered in the last two hundred years of its existence, especially during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), when the old town was largely destroyed, forcing the almost complete reconstruction of much of the urban layout.
Restored in the early 1980s, with a project by the architect Guzmán Ordaz Sánchez de Segorbe, approved by the Official Association of Architects of Valencia on 20 January 1983, the project included the restoration of the old top of the bell tower, which unfortunately was not carried out, leaving the current bell tower completely truncated, with an upper octagonal section without a roof, and deprived of the original appearance given to it by its architect.
The parish church of the Virgen de Gracia, in the centre of the town, is the most outstanding building in the town. It was built in several phases since the first documentation of its construction in 1372, during the time of Bishop Juan de Barcelona and the establishment of the perpetual vicariate of the church of Viver. In the last third of the 16th century, after the Council of Trent, the building underwent major reconstruction in a classicist style, at a time when synodal constitutions were being drawn up for the diocese in the town, with Juan de Muñatones as bishop. A chronology of the works carried out is confirmed by the date preserved on the alabaster baptismal font (1568) and the old abbey house (1579), with the current bell tower being a building from this historical period, contemporary to the renovation of nearby churches such as that of Bejís, the work of Pedro de Cubas, Teresa, and the convent of Socós de Jérica.
However, the parish church underwent two further interventions. At the end of the 17th century, the church and façade were rebuilt and the Communion chapel was added to the bell tower (1694-1703), works carried out by Julián Piamonte and Sebastián Cano, under the supervision of the architect Francisco Lasierra, who was responsible for many other contemporary religious buildings throughout the Espadán region as far as the coast, such as the parish churches of Alcudia de Veo, Montán, Vall de Almonacid, Algimia de Almonacid and Moncófar, the Jesuit College in Segorbe, the Convent of the Mercedarians in Segorbe, the church in Villatorcas and the church and convent of the Carmelites in Caudiel.
Later, during the time of Bishop Lorenzo Gómez de Haedo, between 1804 and 1810, the entire interior was renovated in the neoclassical style of the Royal Academy of San Carlos in Valencia, with the temple being extended on its sides and in the presbytery, from the pulpits to the high altar. This was part of an initiative to renovate diocesan churches along the Camino Real during its construction, which was common under the government of this prelate, using the cathedral as a model and with the involvement of master builders Mariano Llisterri, Francisco Marzo and Vicente Esteve, under the orders of the director of the transformation of the cathedral and the main road, architect Vicente Gascó (1732-1802). Religious buildings such as the parishes of Altura, Gaibiel, Navajas, etc., bear witness to all this.
The typology of the parish tower follows the model established by the Cantabrian master Alonso Fernández de Barrio de Ajo (Ajo, Cantabria ?-Puebla de Valverde, Teruel, 1606) in the Cathedral of Albarracín. Belonging to a family of stonemasons and master builders from that northern region, in the southern lands of Aragon since the early 16th century, he is documented in Teruel as the attorney for various lawsuits involving fellow stonemasons such as Pedro de Ajo (documented in the clock tower of Jérica) in 1583 and, the following year, in Santa Eulalia del Campo where, in association with master builders Diego de Huncueba and Miguel Reche, he commissioned Miguel Ortiz, Juan Sánchez and Martín Ortiz to lay the foundations for a pool in the salt flats of Gallel, owned by the Community of Teruel.
Between 1584 and 1594, together with Miguel Reche, he was commissioned to build the parish church of Ródenas, a magnificent building that featured remarkable architectural advances in partitioned roofing, which earned him numerous commissions throughout the region, including, between 1594 and 1598, the elevation of the new bell tower of Albarracín Cathedral, which would be completed in four years, a chapel in the parish of Villar del Cobo and another in Moscardón (1594-1599). Along the same lines, in 1599 he worked alongside Francisco Laçanguren on the vaulted roof of the side naves of Teruel Cathedral, undertaking, between 1600 and 1602, the construction of the parish church of Santiago and the choir and other rooms of the church of Santa María, now occupied by the Dominicans, both in Albarracín.
In December of that year, he contracted, together with Francisco de Isla, the construction of the bell tower of the parish church of La Puebla de Valverde (Teruel), a commitment that he had to combine with his work alongside Lorenzo del Camino on the tower of the church of Villar del Cobo (Teruel), in imitation of the aforementioned tower of the Cathedral of Albarracín, which had already been completed on 7 November 1604, when a complicated process began before the episcopal curia of Albarracín due to his financial demands, which continued beyond his death, which surprised him in La Puebla de Valverde on 28 May 1606, before he had finished the bell tower of the local church.
The work on the parish bell tower in Viver, as well as that on the church that no longer stands, carried out between the 16th and 17th centuries, must be related to the art of the French architect Juan Cambra and in which the stonemason Juan Orduñez or Orduña, son-in-law of the aforementioned Cambra, must have worked. In 1611, he is documented in Viver as a master stonemason, He was a collaborator of the famous French master Juan Ambuesa and, after the latter's death, father-in-law of his son, the architect Pedro Ambuesa, with whom he collaborated on many of his projects. He is the documented author of the churches of Teulada, Pego, Puebla de Valverde, Rubielos de Mora and the Monastery of San Miguel de los Reyes, among others. The architect, in addition to being responsible for the parish church, may also have been involved in the construction of the first Convent of the Minims in Viver, whose original chapel of San Miguel, the first location of the friars, had been capitulated by the master stonemason Pedro Riola in 1597 with the town, not only because of his personal connection to the town or the Barberanes family of Rubielos de Mora, but also because he was honoured, at the time of his death, with a burial in the convent of San Sebastián, head of the Order of Minims in the province of Valencia in the capital of the Kingdom.
Unfortunately, the current view of the bell tower, as is the case with that of Puebla de Valverde (Teruel), is incomplete with respect to the original design, which was inspired by the tower of Albarracín Cathedral and, probably, by that of Segorbe Cathedral from the 16th century (whose top was later modified). was developed throughout the former diocese and neighbouring territories between the 16th and 17th centuries under the tutelage of Cantabrian and French masters, with the tower of the parish church of Viver being one of the latest examples, if not the last, of which we attach a drawing with a recreation of its original state at the time of its construction.
David Montolio Torán
19 February 2024 in Collaborations, News/by David Montolio Torán
Doctor of Art History and Graduate in Geography and History. Member of the Diocesan Heritage Delegation.