One of the most fascinating enigmas of this temple of Villasirga, Templar by design and birth, is none other than that which refers, in reality, to the identity of the White Virgin, a Marian figure whose miracles - multiple and varied - powerfully attracted attention of pilgrims and pilgrims -to the point of getting both the temple and the population, an active part of the Way of St. James- constituting, at the same time, the main base of an authentic medieval jewel, which has come to this day with the name of Cantigas de Santa María.

Written by King Alfonso X in the period between 1257 and 1283, at least a dozen of them (called loor) make full reference to some of the many miracles attributed, in particular, to this Marian figure who, like many others figures of similar nature, generated an unusual expectation among the people, fostering cults that still survive today.

Regardless of the fact, relevant in itself, that, coinciding with those who think that it is more important where these phenomena occur than the image itself, the variety of sizes, as well as the detail that not all elements are in their original place, they have managed to make an enormous confusion at the moment of identifying the figure object of such faithful and great veneration.

Since it is known that the image of the Virgin was on the altar, some researchers assume that it is the image that is currently located occupying the center of the Main Altarpiece.

Other researchers, however, opt for one of the several Marian figures that are located in the so-called Chapel of Santiago; figures, on the other hand, in front of whose vision, one has the feeling that they guard and protect the tombs of the Infante Don Felipe - brother of King Alfonso X-, his wife and an unknown knight, whose true identity is also unknown, although there are division of opinions in that it belonged to a Templar knight or, on the contrary, constituted the tomb of a santiaguista knight, Order that received the church after the dissolution of the Order of the Temple.

There are not few, however, those who bet on the Marian image located closer to the tombs, and in which there are relevant mutilations, such as, for example, the mutilation of the Virgin's right hand -mutilation that seems to suggest, as it happens in many cases, which was made for the placement in times of some dress- which prevents us from knowing what the original symbol was, and the Child's head, a brutal but significant detail, which seems to indicate that the real interest lies in the undisputed figure of the Mother, pointing out her symbolic meaning of Great Mother Goddess or Mother Earth.

One more enigma, and not precisely the least significant, to add to the many enigmas consigned in a temple whose structure, although distorted at present by certain factors that altered it over the centuries-earthquakes, reconstructions, etc-, It was conceived, in my opinion, as a mysterious center, capable of competing, due to its special qualities, with other centers of forced passage within a no less mysterious and exciting Way: the Jacobean Way, Way of the Milky Way or Way of the Stars.

NOTICE: Originally published in my blog LA ESPAÑA DE LOS TEMPLARIOS. Both the text and the photographs that accompany it are my exclusive intellectual property. The original entry, where you can check the authorship of juancar347, can be found at the following address: https://juancarlosmenendez.blogspot.com/2010/09/quien-es-quien-en-villasirga-el-enigma.html

Si te ha gustado lo que has visto.
Te invito a conocer el mundo del que estoy enamorado.
Image © juancar347. All Rights Reserved.
Original content by @juancar347
Discord
juancar347#4046

[Martial, latin poet]

Ars vtinam more Animvm qve effingere. Posses pulchrior in ter. Ris nvlla tabella foret.

Arte Ojala pudieras representar. el carácter y el espíritu. No habría sobre la tierra. Imagen más bella

@Tximeleta tiene nuevos retos.
Toca la imagen y participa.
Diviértete y disfruta.