San Xoán do Alto

Parroquia: San Xoán do Alto

Although heavily rebuilt, it still preserves clear remnants of its medieval past. Walls built of perpend stones and ashlars. The detached vestibule, built in front of the main facade, consists of a low wall with a continuous bench wrapping around the inside, covered by a three-sloped roof resting on eight rugged granite columns.

 

Nave.Wood rafters. The entryway though the main facade is topped with a lintel; above it there is a rectangular portion of pre-Romanesque-style stone latticework and, above this, the belfry.

Main chapel. The barrel-vaulted main chapel is reinforced with heavy buttresses, and exhibits a round triumphal arch resting on pilasters embedded in the wall. Its walls are adorned with a number of unsophisticated recent paintings. The sacristy is attached to the main chapel on the north side, with a rectangular floor plan and wooden rafters. It is reinforced by three buttresses on its north side, the middle buttress being less pronounced than those on the flanks.

Altarpieces. The main altarpiece is a fine specimen from the eighteenth century with abundant gilding and Solomonic columns; it occupies the entire rear wall of the main chapel. It contains images of Saint John the Baptist, for whom the church is named (0.65), along with Saint Peter and Saint Blaise. The lesser altarpiece on the left is eighteenth-century folk-style baroque, with estipite columns, and its images are uninteresting from an artistic perspective. Right side: all that remain are a few images above the stone altar, which are very worn and without interest.

 

Text © JMGR José Manuel González Reboredo / Inventario artístico de Lugo y su provincia. Vol. I. Abadín – Campelo. Servicio nacional de información artística, arqueológica y etnológica, 1975. (English translation © Ayuntamiento de Lugo)

 

San Xoán do Alto

Retablo do século XVIII

Localización

San Xoán, 27233 Lugo. Camiño Primitivo

Coordenadas

42º 58' 48.0" N - 7º 37' 17.9" W

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