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Chapel of Virgen de la Calzada, Brías

Ubicación:

Right margin of the road SO-P-4135 Brías

Heritage of Cultural Interest since 1996.

On the exit towards Nogales, in the midst of a bucolic environment where a Roman road once passed through, are the ruins of a 12th-century chapel called Ermita de la Soledad. Up until the construction of the current parish, it was called Chruch of Virgen de la Calzada. It used to be an old cemetery and the canopy has disappeared. Now we can only see a nave with the eastern gable topped with a great Maltese cross, a straight presbytery and a semi-circular apse covered by a semi-dome and a straight section with a barrel vault that emerges on either side from scotia imposts. Every part is made of stonework except the gables. The walls are topped with a cornice of double scotia cantilevers, though some are decorated with balls. The arch of triumph is placed on a pair of columns topped with capitals decorated with figures. On the right, there is the Virgin with Baby Jesus, two birds battling and a scene of a troubadour. On the left, there are two men carrying axes on their shoulders, another one horse-riding and a great animal, possibly a bear. The southern façade is the eastern-most example of architectural influence from San Esteban de Gormaz. A beautifully carved structure forms around the door topped off by a cornice decorated with rounded metal figures. It has eight flat bell-shaped archivolts, decorated in a similar way to the cornice around the main entrance and also integrating checkered and wreathed patterns, ovoid lobules and plaited valance. There are sculptures of birds facing one another surrounded by plant motifs on capitals that rest on three pairs of columns.

SourceSoria ni te la imaginas

Visit: Free visit. 

Rev.: JGG 29.10.18