The intervention by Santamaria Arquitectes is divided into three parts: the structural consolidation of the building, the creation of a glass roof over the main nave to allow activity inside it and the reactivation of the bell tower by building a staircase that leads the user to enjoy the views from the top of it.
Both the structure supporting the glass roof of the nave and the stairs inside the bell tower are made of aluminium and corten steel so as not to stand out from the colours of the original elements. For the paving, gravel and sand are used on a geotextile sheet, which will allow them to be easily removed in case of future archaeological activities.
Rehabilitation of the church of Sant Esteve by Santamaria Arquitectes. Photograph by Judith Casas.
Project description by Santamaria Arquitectes
The Sant Esteve church is located at the eastern end of the town of Marganell (Barcelona), a municipality located on the northern slope of the Montserrat massif. The church shares grouds with the cemetery and is located 1.5 km from the town center, in the middle of a large natural space, on a small high plateau from there are magnificent views of the symbolic mountain of Montserrat.
The church has undergone modifications over the years, but it still maintains much of its Romanesque structure.
The first references to the church date from the 11th-12th centuries with a church of smaller dimensions than the current one. In the 17th century, a lateral chapel was built located to the north of the central nave, and during the 17th-18th centuries the sacristy was built, directly connected to the chapel and the presbytery.
During the Napoleonic Wars (1808-1814) part of the church and the sacristy were burned.
In the 19th century the temple was rebuilt and expanded with a new side chapel located to the south. During this period the new bell tower was also built as well as the rectory, which was a large building located next to the bell tower and connected to it by a raised bridge.
Amid the Spanish Civil War, specifically on July 21st, 1936, the church and rectory were looted and burned and from that moment on, the church was left badly damaged, roofless and abandoned.
In 2022, archaeological excavations were carried out that discovered the walls of the original church, as well as some tombs in the area.
At the beginning of the project, the church consisted of the central nave, a side chapel on the north side and the bell tower located in the southwest corner.
The central nave, 15 m long and 7’7 m wide, has stone block walls arranged in rows. It has a semicircular apse without windows or ornaments and a high altar paved with ceramic pieces. The front wall has the main door, which dates from 1824, and a high circular window. The building has been roofless since it was destroyed during the Civil War.
The side chapel is covered by a barrel vault and communicates with the central nave through a wide arch.
The bell tower is an empty square-based tower, 4 m on each side and about 15’7 m high, crowned with a hipped roof.
The aim of the project is to adapt the space to hold indoor cultural and religious events but maintaining its function as a public space open to the villagers.
The architectural proposal consists of three distinct interventions:
- Building structural consolidation.
- Creation of a glass roof over the main nave.
- Creation of a staircase inside the bell tower.
The structural consolidation is based on the cleaning of the vertical walls that define the church enclosure. Existing plant elements are removed and damaged wall recovering are replaced.
The new glass cover is placed inside the building, allowing the use of the covered interior space without altering the exterior image of the church.
The roof is located about five meters high, at the point where all the walls are flat and regular, just below the curved strip where the old ceramic vaults of the roof started. It is formed by a metal structure of beams embedded in the original stone walls. These beams support the roof profiles, as well as a perimeter profile free from the walls that allows the ventilation of the space and at the same time acts as a channel for rainwater, which is evacuated to the outside through four gargoyles. In the apse area the profiles form a semi-circle adapting to the curvature of the walls.
To reduce the ecological footprint of the building, natural materials are chosen for the pavements. Sand is placed under the projection of the large transparent roof, while everything else is solved using very fine gravel pavement. These soft pavements are placed over a geotextile sheet and will allow future archaeological activities to be carried out.
The other intervention was to recover access to the bell tower, which remained inaccessible due to the burning of the church during the Civil War. A metal staircase has been placed inside the tower, and its slatted floor allows a full view of the interior of the tower. The staircase goes up to the highest part of the bell tower, where a viewpoint is created with views over the territory and Montserrat mountain. The tower is illuminated by the energy generated by photovoltaic panels located on the roof of the cemetery.
