Church of San Pedro de Ancorados

The church of San Pedro de Ancorados is one of the most distinctive and valuable examples of Romanesque architecture in the province, both for the quality of its design and for the complex historical evolution it has undergone over the centuries. The temple is believed to have originally been linked to the foundation maintained by the Franciscan Tertiaries at Santa María a Nova in Santiago, later passing into the hands of the Poor Clare nuns of Santiago. This connection with different religious communities largely explains the transformations and extensions that altered its original structure. In its original design, the church consisted of a single-nave plan with a pentagonal apse, a typology of considerable interest. Although later renovations significantly modified the building, visitors can still clearly recognize the original Romanesque structure and some of its most representative elements, such as the apse itself, the western façade and part of the lateral walls of the nave. The addition of two large quadrangular spaces, functioning as a pseudo-transept, profoundly transformed the interior space. The western façade preserves its Romanesque portal with a semicircular arch, featuring a torus moulding archivolt framed by a listel and a bevelled moulding, resting on columns with smooth shafts and capitals decorated with vegetal motifs that give the whole ensemble the sobriety and harmony characteristic of rural Galician Romanesque architecture. The most outstanding element of the complex is undoubtedly the apse, composed of a straight section followed by a pentagonal one, articulated by semicylindrical columns and originally illuminated by five windows, three of which survive today. Its architectural and sculptural design is closely related to the central apse of the monastery of Aciveiro (Forcarei), with which it shares design elements, capital decoration and the structure of the elevations. This relationship reinforces the artistic value of the temple and places San Pedro de Ancorados as a site of particular interest within the Romanesque heritage of the region.