Santa Coloma Church

Religious

The church of Santa Coloma is one of the oldest in Andorra. Of pre-Romanesque origin, it was built between the 8th and 9th centuries with a rectangular nave and a quadrangular apse. Its present appearance is due to the reforms that were made in the twelfth century, when the Lombard bell tower was added with a circular floor plan and four floors high, unique in the Principality and one of the few found in the Pyrenees. Likewise, the whole of the chevet of the church was decorated with a cycle of fresco mural paintings that have traditionally been attributed to the Master of Santa Coloma, although they are not the work of the same hand. This circumstance occurs in a large part of the Romanesque murals of Andorra and the Pyrenees, the work of workshops of nomadic painters who had received the same training. This has led experts to speak of schools such as the one that concerns us, that of the Master of Santa Coloma.