Rating
4.5/5 (based on Google user reviews)
User Reviews
Turista Inglesa (9 months ago)
This church can be admired easily from the outside, since it is in the middle of a square with no buildings attached to it. The word "Azogue" stems from the term for a Moorish Market, which presumably was held in this very square at one time before the Moorish invaders left Spain finally in 1492. A Double Win for Spain that year, since it was in 1492 that Columbus sailed the Ocean blue. You can therefore walk right around it, admiring it from every angle. And there is plenty to admire. Students of architecture will particularly find much to admire, as it is a living textbook of European architecture. If you can actually call stones "living"! I give it this name because it took so long to build. The Cathedral of Kingsbridge in Ken Follett's book "The Pillars of the Earth" was constructed in just an afternoon, compared to this church, I can tell you. It was started in the 12th century, making its origins "Romanesque". That's what we often call Norman architecture in English churches, those half-circles forming archways over doors and windows. After a roughly hundred-year pause, they started again in the late 13th century: Gothic, with pointy arches. Spot those? After dawdling a bit, putting up a clock tower to house an enormous bell, we then got to the 1th and 16th centuries: Late Gothic, Early Renaissance then segueing into pure Renaissance. Finally, the finishing touches (including re-building bits that had fallen down, especially after the collapse of a nearby underground wine cellar) were added in the 17th and 18th centuries, in pure flamboyant Baroque style. Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque. A textbook!
This church can be admired easily from the outside, since it is in the middle of a square with no buildings attached to it. The word "Azogue" stems from the term for a Moorish Market, which presumably was held in this very square at one time before the Moorish invaders left Spain finally in 1492. A Double Win for Spain that year, since it was in 1492 that Columbus sailed the Ocean blue. You can therefore walk right around it, admiring it from every angle. And there is plenty to admire. Students of architecture will particularly find much to admire, as it is a living textbook of European architecture. If you can actually call stones "living"! I give it this name because it took so long to build. The Cathedral of Kingsbridge in Ken Follett's book "The Pillars of the Earth" was constructed in just an afternoon, compared to this church, I can tell you. It was started in the 12th century, making its origins "Romanesque". That's what we often call Norman architecture in English churches, those half-circles forming archways over doors and windows. After a roughly hundred-year pause, they started again in the late 13th century: Gothic, with pointy arches. Spot those? After dawdling a bit, putting up a clock tower to house an enormous bell, we then got to the 1th and 16th centuries: Late Gothic, Early Renaissance then segueing into pure Renaissance. Finally, the finishing touches (including re-building bits that had fallen down, especially after the collapse of a nearby underground wine cellar) were added in the 17th and 18th centuries, in pure flamboyant Baroque style. Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque. A textbook!
Fr. Manuel Gonzalez (Mito) (2 years ago)
Beautiful cuasi-cathedral church in the middle and top of Benavente.
Beautiful cuasi-cathedral church in the middle and top of Benavente.
Hans Frederiks (2 years ago)
Nice church and nice places on the square for a drink.
Nice church and nice places on the square for a drink.
Francisco Castellón (2 years ago)
Ok
Ok
Jose Jose (2 years ago)
Es un lugar de visita obligada si vas a Benavente
Es un lugar de visita obligada si vas a Benavente
