From Roda de Ribagorça to Lleida (XII^th-XIII^th Centuries): Artistic and Liturgical Transfers between Displaced Episcopal Sees

The restoration of Episcopal Sees within the cities that had remained in Muslims’ hands in the regions of Catalonia and Aragon led to the transfer of some of the Pyrenees Episcopal centres to the newly recovered ones. Our paper aims to survey a question not yet studied, such as the artistic and liturgical transfer of dedications and relics from an ancient See, and displayed on the architecture of the new cathedral. We focus on the case of Roda de Ribagorça and the Seu Vella of Lleida. The cathedral of Roda was completely restored in the second quarter of the twelfth century, both the church and the canonical buildings, together with the construction of the cloister. In 1149, the bishop of Roda moved to the restored See of Lleida, where a few days after the surrender of the city, the main mosque was consecrated as cathedral. From 1203 and throughout the thirteenth century the new cathedral was built including a series of features which belong to Roda, incorporating in the new building the “image” of the old Pyrenees cathedral.