Church of Santa María de Cambre

Main facade

The Church of Santa María de Cambre is a 12th century romanesque church in Cambre, Galicia, Spain. It follows the Compostela style and it's one of highlighted churches in the Galician Romanesque.

It was declared Bien de Interés Cultural in 1998.

History

During the Early Middle Ages, it was a monastery owned by a family. Latter, in 932 it was donated to the monastery San Paio, who kept the Abbey principle and turned it into a priory. After being burnt by the English and then the French the old monastery went extinct with the Spanish Confiscation.

Stages

The construction of the church can be divided into three stages

First stage

The central nave with the main chapel in the middle

There in the middle of the 12th century the main façade, the first three trams of the longitudinal naves where built, with the central nave being the longest one and seperated from the lateral ones by squared piers with semicolumns sticked to the sides. The transverse and arched arches, on which the wooden roof is supported, are semicircular and start from capitals with generally vegetal decoration.

Second stage

Arch with a Groin vault

It shows clear influences from the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in its crown with five radial chapels, which makes it related, despite its size, to the great pilgrimage churches. The radial chapels open to the crown by ogival arches, supported by semi-columns attached to the walls, and are covered with ribbed vaults.

Third stage

It corresponds to the 13th century, in which the apse, the transept, the last section of the naves and the portal were completed. The crown is covered with an annular vault and the main chapel, composed of a rectangular section and another semicircular, with a barrel vault topped with a quarter sphere. Some cosco stairs on the east side of the smaller arms of the transept give access to what were probably once two small towers that do not protrude from the roof today.

Cross seccion of the church made in August 25 of 1902

Description

Inside it preserves some pieces of interest: a capital with the date 1194 engraved on it, a sink known as the Hidria of Jerusalem, which is according to tradition was one of the hydrias used by Jesus to turn water to wine, or a Virgin and Child in stone from the end of the 12th century.