Church of San Martiño

Completed in 1434, this church (declared a Building of Cultural Interest) is a good example of Galicia’s Gothic style with a single nave and its main polygonal chapel covered by a ribbed vault that, on the outside, is reinforced with a crenelated top. This latter element gives it a fort-like appearance. The church was built during the days of Archbishop Lope de Mendoza, who appears in the tympanum of the north side entrance, beside Our Lady with Baby Jesus and St. Joseph. The tympanum of the main entrance features his coat of arms with chequered moons.

It is worth highlighting the extensive nave dominated by the daylight entering the glass windows in the wall sections, the area of the altar and the rose window of the west façade, which gives rise to an interplay of colours within this space. Later on, at the end of the 16^th century, the Chapel of Valderrama, which houses the font, was built into the side where the Epistles are read.

The exterior of the façade, facing Praza do Tapal, features a beautiful sculptural ensemble that reflects the influence of Master Mateo’s work in Santiago Cathedral’s “Pórtico de la Gloria.” Therein we can identify, at the bases, monsters followed, above,  by the apostles arranged in two rows on the jambs and, on the archivolts, twelve elders with musical instruments surrounding Christ the Judge in the centre. At the bottom of the archivolts there is a depiction of the Ascension, with Our Lady on one side and the archangel on the other. The entrance, crowned by a beautiful rose window, is bordered by side sections that rise up to the belfry and clock tower.

According to popular tradition, this church’s unfinished tower is cursed: whoever tries to finish the church’s second tower will meet a sad end. A master mason is said to have fallen from it in times past and more recently, in 1973, the director Claudio Guerín died tragically on the last day of filming The Bell from Hell, after reconstructing the second tower using papier mâché –the place where he died is indicated by a stone bearing a small cross-shaped inscription.