Approximately one hundred kilometers separate these interesting places from Moarves de Ojeda and San Andrés de Arroyo, from another Palencia region, the Cerrato, and from a very particular place, Baños de Cerrato, where the path invites you to enter the mysterious world of the Visigoths

It is here, practically at the end of the town, where a whole jewel, full of shadows, silence and legends, turns its back on some fields, the Gothic, which extend to the infinite, as part of the millenary granaries of Old Castile: the Basilica of San Juan.

Actually, little is known about such a singular place, except that it is closely related to a king, Recesvinto, who could have little or nothing to imagine that, fifty years after consecrating this place - it is thought that he was consecrated in the year 661 -, the Visigothic empire would disappear from the face of Hispania, immolated not only by its eternal internal disputes, but by the irrepressible flood of blood and fire that, coming from Africa, would lay the foundations of a new history in this one, our ancient and mythological bull skin.

It is true, as well, that this was possibly not the true aspect that it offered after the Visigoth master builders applied their extraordinary architectural skills -including knowledge and the practical use of the golden ratio-, since there have been multiple reconstructions and the archaeological works carried out in it.

But because of its appearance, it respects the basilical plan typical of the temples of its style, so that if we know places like Santa Comba de Bande, province of Orense or San Pedro de la Nave, province of Zamora, it will not cost us much to do the idea of ​​the kind of sacred construction that we are visiting.

It is true, on the other hand, that also the motifs of the capitals of its interior, of Romanesque-Corinthian tradition, differ from the traditional motives characteristic of Visigoth art, which constitute an additional attraction in the temples mentioned above, including that of Quintanilla de las Viñas, province of Burgos and even the headstone before the altar, in the pre-Romanesque church of Santa Cristina de Lena, in Asturias or the remains of painting and construction of the church of Santa María de Wamba, in the province of Valladolid.

But regardless of that, penetrating inside, always produces a curious sense of respect that, either by its remote antiquity or because one feels immersed in that eternal fight between shadow and darkness, get the hair on the arms straighten as escarpies.

Characteristics of the Visigothic art -among others, of course-, are the solar disks that are still observed on the tombstone of consecration -I seemed to understand the guide, that it is a copy and that the original is in the Museum of Palencia -, whose words, textual, are reproduced below, as specified in the information leaflet attached together with the entry:

PRECURSOR OF MR. MÁRTIR JUAN BAUTISTA POSSESSES THIS HOUSE, BUILT AS ETERNAL GIFT, WHICH I HAVE RECEIVED KING, DEVOTEE AND LOVER OF YOUR NAME, DEDICATED TO YOU BY OWN RIGHT IN THE THIRD YEAR, AFTER THE TENTH AS UNCERTAINED KINGDOM OF THE KINGDOM. IN THE SIX HUNDRED NINETY AND NINE (1).

There is also a strange element, which was found during one of the excavations carried out in the temple, whose origin and function are not known, but which the tradition attributes to be the hand of King Recesvinto himself, who, according to legend, who supports his hand in it, will attract good luck over it.

Complementary to the place, and located a few meters away, the miraculous fountain of King Recesvinto, will be the main theme of the next entrance.

Notes, References and Bibliography:

(1) To date 699 of the Hispanic Era, we must subtract 38 years, which is the difference it has with the current.

NOTICE: Originally posted on my blog MEMORIES OF A PILGRIM. 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://jc347.blogspot.com/2014/08/banos-de-cerrato-iglesia-visigoda-de.html

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