A post in another thread reminded me of the twisted Romanesque columns that we saw in the cloister of the San Pedro de la Rúa church in Estella. They are a striking and mysterious feature. Twisted columns are typical Romanesque but not commonly found and can mainly be seen in Spain. Their purpose has not revealed itself to us. They are perhaps a feature to break up monotony, to mark a change in the visual content of the columns' capitals to either side. Some speculate that they symbolize the change of time which I don't find convincing. Some compare them to
Solomonic columns but Solomonic columns are singular columns with a twisted shaft like a corkscrew and typical for the much later styles of Renaissance and Baroque.
These four columns twisted around each other remain one of the many enigmas of Romanesque art.
You can see an example in Estella on the Camino Francés and in the cloister of the monastery in Santo Domingo de Silos to the south of Burgos. One of the unknown "Masters of Silos" was probably the first one who created these
columnas torsas. Other examples are listed under
this link. Note that there are four columns twisted around each other but from wherever you look, you seem to see only three shafts.
