Main Church

Category: Religious Architecture > Church

District: Viseu > Sernancelhe > Fonte Arcada > Bairro de São Martinho

Location

The Mother Church stands in the tranquility of the São Martinho neighborhood, in Fonte Arcada, a locality integrated into the municipality of Sernancelhe. Its striking presence provides a point of reference and an atmosphere of quietude to the surrounding area, inviting a pause for observation.

Romanesque Heritage and Interventions

This religious building has its deep origins in the 12th and 13th centuries, revealing the robust forms of Romanesque art in its initial construction. A direct testament to its antiquity is an inscription visible on one of the exterior walls, dated 1210. Although it underwent partial remodelling in the 17th century, these interventions were careful to respect and preserve the original Romanesque features, maintaining its essence. Due to its historical and architectural value, the Mother Church is classified as a National Monument.

Sculptural Details of the Facade

The imposing granite facade, preceded by a few steps, is dominated by a Romanesque portal of remarkable beauty. This portal features three archivolts, the inner one ornamented with a sequence of ten exquisitely sculpted angels. The tympanum, with its undulating lines, is enriched with reliefs combining vegetal and geometric elements. The round arches rest on three pairs of columns, whose capitals reveal a phytomorphic character, inspired by nature. Flanking the portal, at the level of the archivolts, are two baldachins sheltering figures of saints and evangelists, such as Saint Peter and Saint Paul, accompanied by other elements of the tetramorph.

The top of the building is crowned by a triangular gable, flanked by urns on pedestals, and at the center rises a Latin cross. Laterally, the robust quadrangular bell tower adds grandeur to the structure, with its window-like openings and triangular pinnacles that punctuate the cornice.

Art and Spirituality Inside

Inside, the body of the church reveals a single nave, whose side walls house three chapels. The chapel located on the right side likely served as a burial space for the family of the Counts of Lapa, while the two chapels on the opposite side display interesting hagiographic wooden sculptures, inviting contemplation. In the main chapel, a large Baroque altar in gilded wood carving attracts attention with its artistic richness.

One of the most significant discoveries, revealed during restoration works in the 1970s, were the important 16th-century mural frescoes, which had been hidden by wooden altarpieces. These frescoes depict figures such as Our Lady of the Rosary and the Virgin of the Apocalypse, enveloped in a floral composition. On the chancel walls, there are also four paintings, two of which belong to the workshop of Vasco Fernandes, better known as Grão Vasco, one of the great names in Portuguese painting.

License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.pt