Church of San Juan of Portomarín
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Church of San Juan (or Saint Nicholas) of Portomarín is a temple-fortress of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, in the Galician town of Portomarín, Spain.
[edit] Architectural features
It is an unusual Late Romanesque temple as it is designed to be both a church and a castle and so has architectural characteristics of both buildings. As a church it has one barrel vaulted nave, a semicircular apse and all the typical decorations of Romanesque churches; these include a carved portal with archivolts, rose windows and carved capitals. As a castle its perimeter is surrounded by merlons, it has four defense towers (one at each corner) while behind it lies an adarve, a defensive street.
[edit] Strategic importance
It is situated on the principal route of the Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela, where other Templar and Knight Hospitaller churches and castles were constructed as a result of the effort of the Hospital Orders to protect the way to the tomb of Santiago; others include the churches of Torres del Río, Eunate and the Castle of Ponferrada.
[edit] External links
- (Spanish)Information from Instituto Cervantes[1]
- (Spanish)Web about the village and the church[2]
- (Spanish)Portomarín in Spanish Wikipedia [3]
