CAPELA DE SAN ROQUE

Religious
1945
On the Way of St. James

Location

Parish: Melide (San Pedro)

Place: Melide

Street: Rúa do Progreso s/n

15280  Melide - A Coruña

Coordinates:
42º 54' 49.0" N - 8º 00' 46.0" W

The Ways of St. James

The French Camino
The Primitive Camino

Milestones of the Camino

The original church belonged to the Franciscan convent of Sancti Spiritus, whose foundation dates back to 1325. Of that Romanesque church, only its main doorway remains, today located in the chapel of San Roque, which was erected in 1949. This new church incorporated elements from demolished medieval churches, such as that of San Pedro.

The doorway has four semicircular archivolts, profusely decorated with a variety of ornamental motifs, such as arches, rosettes and zigzag mouldings. The capitals, as well as the continuous cymatium and the chambranle, are decorated with phytomorphic figures, in the latter, the stone ornamentation stands out for its fully achieved fleshiness.

Next to this doorway is what is considered to be one of the oldest transepts in Galicia, built in the 14th century; it is not a purely Gothic piece, as Romanesque features can be seen in its construction. It is known to have changed location several times until it was placed in its current location. Its importance led Castelao to state in his work As cruces de pedra na Galiza (The stone crosses of Galicia) that it is the oldest Galician cross in existence; it is also arguably the most emblematic of the French Way. It stands on a modern pedestal, with an octagonal shaft and topped by a cross. The latter, of a single piece, presents Christ in His Majesty on one of its sides, it represents a risen Christ, triumphant over death, wearing a royal crown on his head and showing the wounds of the Passion. This image is derived from that of the Saviour in the tympanum of the Portico of Glory. The other side depicts a deesis, a crucified Christ flanked by the Virgin Mary at his feet and the Apostle John. Some scholars suggest that the cross may have originally formed part of a stone altar, possibly belonging to the disappeared medieval church of San Pedro.

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