Agüero - Iglesia de Santiago

The Iglesia de Santiago stands surrounded by macchia at the end of a dust road about a kilometer southeast of Agüero. This isolated place is probably why it is named as well "Ermita de Santiago".
It is a very strange structure and I did not have much information about. At one time within the 12th century somebody had started to build a pretty large basilica (- in the middle of nowhere). Obviously money was not an issue, as gifted sculptors and experienced builders left their marks here. Then - some decades later, the building process stopped, the church was never completed.

No wonder, that the artist/workshop known as "Master of San Juan de la Peña" is even better known under the name of "Master of Agüero". I had seen his works in San Juan de la Peña and Sangüesa, but what he created here are real masterpieces.

The outside walls of the church are covered with lots of different mason marks.

The structure was obviously erected with a lot of effort in a short time - and so a task - for many masons. The + and the L on the left may be such marks, but what is seen to the right are carved graffiti. Maybe somebody named Lawrence carved in that gridiron, to honour his patron saint. As the church is so isolated people carving in graffiti here are undisturbed and have plenty of time.