Póvoa de Varzim, Porto, Portugal — Southwestern Europe (Iberian Peninsula)

Igreja de S. Pedro de Rates / Church of San Pedro of Rates

Photographed By Andrew Ruppenstein, September 3, 2023

1. Igreja de S. Pedro de Rates / Church of San Pedro of Rates Marker

Inscription. Click to hear the inscription.

Templo monástico, documentado já no séc. XI, foi doado em 1100 pelos Condes D.Henrique e D.Teresa à Ordem de Cluny. Está assente sobre uma igreja pré existente em escavações realizadas em. 1997/1998, em local com presença de ocupações anteriores. É uma construção característica do românico, de planta composta, de cruz latina, de três naves. Toda a igreja é profusamente decorada com figuras antropomórficas, destacando-se a dos portais e a dos arcos interiores de separação das naves.

Monastic Church built up on an ancient pre-existent religious building in the very same place where other public religious services were probably held by Romans. The plan of the Church shows a latin cross as characteristic of this Romanesque Style freely and generously decorated.

Erected by Direcção Geral de Edificios e Monumentos Nacionais, Direcção Regional de Edifícios e Monumentos do Norte.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Architecture • Churches & Religion.

Location. 41° 25.392′

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N, 8° 40.36′ W. Marker is in Póvoa de Varzim, Porto. Marker is on Rua Doutor Manuel Monteiro, on the right when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: Rua Dr Manuel Monteiro 80, Póvoa de Varzim, Porto 4570-412, Portugal. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 18 kilometers of this marker, measured as the crow flies. A Praça / The Square (about 150 meters away, measured in a direct line); A Fonte de São Pedro / Fountain of Santo Pedro (about 180 meters away); Largo de Santo António / Saint Anthony Square (approx. 0.6 kilometers away); Primeiro Campo de Futebol / First Football Field (approx. 10 kilometers away); Centro da Juventude / Youth Centre (approx. 10.1 kilometers away); Dom Pedro IV (approx. 13.8 kilometers away); Avro Lancaster III Crash (approx. 15.8 kilometers away); Ruínas de Habitação / Family House (approx. 16.5 kilometers away).

Also see . . . Igreja de São Pedro de Rates (Visit Portugal).

Excerpt: The Igreja de São Pedro de Rates was built in the 12th and 13th centuries and is considered to be one of the finest examples of Romanesque architecture in Portugal.

As far as is known, Pedro de Rates was one of the first people to be converted to Christianity in the Iberian Peninsula, still in the time of the emperor Caligula, by St. James, who ordained him Bishop of Braga. He then founded a small religious community in Rates, and it was here that he was to undergo martyrdom
Photographed By Andrew Ruppenstein, September 3, 2023

2. Igreja de S. Pedro de Rates / Church of San Pedro of Rates and Marker
and later to be buried.

The church was built at the orders of the Counts Dom Henrique and Dona Teresa, the parents of the first king of Portugal, Dom Afonso Henriques. Initially designed with a floor plan consisting of three naves, five bays and a transept, it was later adapted to the canons of the Portuguese Benedictine churches, a transformation that was never completed and resulted in a mixture of two different floor plans. Anomalies and irregularities in the structure of the pillars, the distribution of the columns, the positioning of the windows, and the building of the buttresses, together with the lack of uniformity in the elevations of the building itself, are all features of this adaptation that are perfectly visible to visitors.

Attention is drawn to the Romanesque doorways. The main entrance, surmounted by a rose-window, has a depiction on its tympanum of the figure of Christ Pantokrator, flanked by two other figures. Represented on the archivolts are the apostles and angels, while mythical animals, sirens, deformed human figures, masks and other motifs can be seen on the capitals. On the tympanum of the church’s south-facing façade is a low-relief Agnus Dei.

(Submitted on February 12, 2024.)

North side of church image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Andrew Ruppenstein, September 3, 2023

3. North side of church

Credits. This page was last revised on February 12, 2024. It was originally submitted on February 12, 2024, by Andrew Ruppenstein of Lamorinda, California. This page has been viewed 56 times since then. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on February 12, 2024, by Andrew Ruppenstein of Lamorinda, California.