The Church of San Juan Bautista or San Juan Bautista de Baños de Cerrato is a stone Early Medieval

Visigoth The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...

ic church dedicated to St

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

in the village of

Baños de Cerrato Banos or Baños ( es, baths) may refer to: *Banos, Landes, a commune in the Landes department of France *Baños de Agua Santa, a city and popular tourist destination in Tungurahua Province, Ecuador *Baños Canton, Ecuador, of which Baños de Agua Sa ...

, ancient ''Balneos'', in the

province of Palencia Palencia is a province of northern Spain, in the northern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. It is bordered by the provinces of León, Cantabria, Burgos, and Valladolid. Overview Of ...

, in central

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

History

The church is located in the fertile

Pisuerga River The Pisuerga is a river in northern Spain, the Douro, Duero's second largest tributary. It rises in the Cantabrian Mountains in the province of Palencia, autonomous region of Castile and León. Its traditional source is called Fuente Cobre, but i ...

valley, near the confluence with the

Carrión River Carrion refers to the carcass of a dead animal. Carion, Carrion or Carrión may also refer to: Geography * Carion, Madagascar, former name of Nandihizana * Carrión (river), a river in Spain * Carrión de Calatrava, a municipality in central ...

. In

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

, the area offered opportunities for vacations and relaxation, with many private

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

s dotting the landscape. In Roman times as under the Visigoths, this was an important grain-producing region. Since the coming of the railways the nearby town of

Venta de Baños Venta de Baños is a small town and municipality of about 6,400 inhabitants located in the Cerrato district of the province of Palencia, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León in central Spain. It lies some 10 km south of the ...

is larger and more important than Baños de Cerrato. SAN JUAN DE BAÑOS LápidaDeConsagración

The church was commissioned by the

ic king

Recceswinth Recceswinth (died 1 September 672) was the Visigoths, Visigothic Visigothic Kingdom, King of Hispania, and Septimania in 649–672. He ruled jointly with his father Chindaswinth until his father's death in 653. Name His Gothic language, Gothic n ...

Hispania Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania ...

(the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

, comprising modern

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

), in the year 661 and whose solemn consecration ceremony is believed to have taken place on 3 January, 661. It has a consecration inscription over its entry, in awkward capital letters. This text is also preserved in a codex of the 10th century, copied from a Toledan manuscript from the 8th century. A literal translation would be: The church was built as a royal foundation under the control of the Bishops of Palencia. The excavations that were carried out in 1956 and 1963 yielded a medieval necropolis of 58 tombs to the north-west of the church and discovered three pieces of 7th-century bronze: two belt buckles in the shape of a lyre and one liturgical object. Some proponents have suggested that it is not Visigothic, but 9th century or more recent probably 10th century in date. On this basis the

pre-Romanesque architecture Pre-Romanesque art and architecture is the period in European art from either the emergence of the Merovingian kingdom in about 500 AD or from the Carolingian Renaissance in the late 8th century, to the beginning of the 11th century Romanesq ...

could be described as Repoblacion or possibly

Mozarabic Mozarabic, also called Andalusi Romance, refers to the medieval Romance varieties spoken in the Iberian Peninsula in territories controlled by the Islamic Emirate of Córdoba and its successors. They were the common tongue for the majority of ...

. Some arguments for this revised date include the use of ashlar (unparalleled in buildings archaeologically dated to the Visigothic period), and the evident mismatched use of earlier Visigothic carved stones in the frieze.

Architecture

The church construction is of

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

(squared stone, as against irregular

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionary ...

) set in a drywall manner (with no mortar). It and several other

Visigothic The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...

churches built in Spain about the same time represent the last ashlar construction in western Europe until

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

, and can be seen as the end of that ancient Roman building tradition in the west. George R.H. Wright notes the

Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...

influence seen in the horseshoe-shaped arch in pre-Islamic Spain. The belfry above was added at a later date.

Related site

The name of the village references baths, and there is a fountain, the Fuente de San Juan, near the church.BAÑOS DE CERRATO, FUENTE VISIGODA

References

External links

The Church
{{DEFAULTSORT:Church of San Juan Bautista, Banos de Cerrato Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in the Province of Palencia Juan de Banos Pre-Romanesque architecture in Spain

History

Architecture

Related site

See also

References

External links