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Collegiate Church of St Juliana, Santillana del Mar (No. 2)

The construction scheme responds to that of a church with three naves of four sections and transept, three semicircular apses, a cylindrical tower, and dome over the transept. The set is completed with a cloister and the abbey dependencies. The central nave is wider than the lateral ones and equal to that of the transept, so the transept has a square plan. The arms of the transept do not protrude from the side walls, so that they are not visible to the outside. The heads of the three naves are made up of staggered semicircular apses. At the foot of the main nave stood a square bell tower that on the outside is similar to the one that stands over the transept, giving an image of symmetry to those who observe the church from the southern façade.

In the formal and decorative aspect we must mention the existence of an open main portal on the south side that allows access from the square, and another on the north wall that connects the church with the cloister. As a finish of the first, a triangular pediment with a Renaissance air was arranged in later times, replacing the original Romanesque eaves on corbels; shows a niche containing the image of Saint Juliana in an attitude of subduing the devil. Nor is the gallery of fifteen arches that runs through the upper part of the southern canvas original. The flaring of the façade is formed by smooth adoveled archivolts; Above are aligned a series of quite deteriorated human figures, highlighting in the center a mandorla supported by four angels in which a seated pantocrator is framed.

The covering of the naves is carried out by ribbed vaults, and that of the arms of the transept by barrel vaults; The apses are roofed with oven vaults. Above the transept stands a dome in the form of a square tower inside which, at a lower level than the roof, there is a decentered dome that rests on pendentives.

An element of special interest is the cloister attached in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries to the north wall of the church. In a first phase the south wing and a part of the west wing would be raised; already in the thirteenth century this wing would be completed and the north wing would be built. The east side is from later times (sixteenth century) and does not follow the guidelines of the Romanesque style.

The primitive galleries are formed by semicircular arches supported by paired or quadruple columns. In total it has 43 capitals of which the oldest, those on the south side and first section on the west side, are historians with carvings of appreciable merit, while the most recent ones present plant themes.