DESCRIZIONE:
Sin dalla preistoria l’uomo ha sempre cercato di stabilirsi in contesti ricchi di sorgenti e corsi d’acqua.
In Sardegna ne è testimonianza la chiesa di San Leonardo che si trova nei pressi delle “sette fontane”, documentata storicamente dal “Condaghe di San Nicola di Trullas” (XII-XIII secolo).
Anche se la data esatta di costruzione è sconosciuta, la chiesa presenta una navata con abside semicircolare del XII secolo e un’abside quadrata con monofora a sesto acuto del XIII-XIV secolo.
La facciata è decorata con pilastri leggermente sporgenti e due portali con archi a tutto sesto.
NARRAZIONE:The history of mankind has always been associated with water, a precious vital element.
It is no coincidence that human beings, since prehistoric times, have gone in search of springs and watercourses to choose the places in which to live.
In Sardinia too, there are striking manifestations of this privileged relationship between human beings and water, and the church of San Leonardo bears explicit witness to this: the building was, in fact, constructed in the area called ‘delle sette fontane’, from the Spanish ‘siete fuentes’ because of the seven neighbouring springs.
This relationship is also attested in many historical documents: in the ‘Condaghe di San Nicola di Trullas’ (12th-13th century) there is mention of a ‘villa VII funtanas’, in 1341 there is mention of an ‘ecclesia septem fontium (fonzium)’ and in 1355 there is evidence of the existence of the hospital of ‘San Leonardo di sette fontane’, run by the Ospedalieri di San Giovanni.
The documentation does not attest to the date of construction of the church, made of basalt ashlars, but it seems more than plausible to place the construction of a first single-nave hall with a semicircular apse in the middle of the 12th century.
Between the 13th and 14th centuries, the north wall was demolished and the apse was rebuilt with its present square plan and archaic single lancet window.
The stylistic choice of the small monolithic arches is peculiar: they are rounded and not pointed like the apse single lancet window.
The façade, surrounded by pilasters at the sides, is divided by round arches into two horizontal registers: the upper part is gabled, while the lower part, marked by the presence of two portals, architraved and with round lunettes, is in turn divided by a pilaster.
The stylistic similarity of the two portals is not proof that they were made at the same time, but rather a reflection of the search for stylistic consistency on the part of those who made the second portal.
VIRTUAL TOUR: BIBLIOGRAFIA:D. Scano, Storia dell’arte in Sardegna dal XI al XIV secolo, Cagliari, Sassari, Montorsi, 1907, pp. 315-316;
G. Crudeli, “Chiesa di San Leonardo di Siete Fuentes in territorio di Santu Lussurgiu”, in Studi Sardi, X-XI, 1952, pp. 477-490;
R. Delogu, L’architettura del Medioevo in Sardegna, Roma, La Libreria dello Stato, 1953, pp. 129, 235-236;
R. Coroneo, Chiese romaniche della Sardegna. Itinerari turistico-culturali, Cagliari, AV, 2005, pp. 59;
R. Coroneo, “La chiesa di San Leonardo di Siete Fuentes”, in Santu Lussurgiu. Dalle origini alla “Grande Guerra”, a cura di G. Mele, Nuoro, Solinas, 2005, pp. 45-58.
INDIRIZZO:09075 San Leonardo De Siete Fuentes OR, Italia MAPPA:Array