Santiago's road. Portomarín: the church of San Nicolau or San Xoan

I knew what Álvaro Cunqueiro-the quintessential chromaticist of Galicia-was talking about when, referring to this impressive church-fortress of San Xoan or of San Nicolau, which by both names is known, said the accurate phrase of: stones carved with exemplary perfection by the master stonemasons of the thousand two hundred, who knew, with imagination and heart, that they built a church (1).

Now, Portomarín, at present, is nothing but a mirage in the old French Way towards Santiago de Compostela; a converted villa, even more, if possible, in mariñeira or in mariñana when the creation of the Belesar reservoir was carried out, under whose waters - which give off sequins of purple and silver when the first rays of the sun wash on it - and in a bed of silt and eternal oblivion, many of the houses of the original town lie forever: the one that the pilgrims of old knew well, ironically guarded by the hardened hospitable monks-warriors, of black habit, sometimes red, and cross white, of the so-called eight beatitudes, in the chest.

That is why we speak of illusions when referring to it, because little or nothing is what it seems, since even its most outstanding historical-artistic monument, this monumental church of San Nicolau or San Xoán, as it is better known, is not in its real location, but was moved stone by stone from its original place, on the riverbank, next to the riverbank. And yet, nevertheless, let's be honest, whoever visits Portomarín, goes up the main street and stops to contemplate this famous wonder, which once formed, nothing more and nothing less than one of the most important orders of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in the province of Lugo, lies or deceives himself, if he claims that he was not impressed.

And it is that, contemplating the superb temple-fortress structure that has such an emblematic architectural jewel, whose origins go back to the 12th and 13th centuries, it is difficult, if not impossible, not to think about the Compostela models and to listen, even in the imagination, divine treasure, the marvelous sound of the prodigious bells of his cathedral, reconquered to the morisma centuries later of the terrible razzia of the fateful Almanzor, who encouraged with their sweet ringing the sublime creations of Masters, like Mateo.

Because here, in beauty and the perfect invoice of its three porticos we see, at least, part of those psychic and imaginative subtleties of one of the greatest Masters, which unjustly in modern times came to be described as dark architect of the court of King Ferdinand II of León, as well as the passage of a School that, based on perfection and balance, strategically placed different lessons of symbolic and could even be said that Gnostic wisdom, to wonder and example of some people, mainly pilgrims, who came to the remote and longed-for Campus Stellae knowing - or rather, hoping when not intuiting (2) - that on their hard journey they would find the transcendental messages of a subliminal school, specially prepared, whose grammar and rhyme , pure and universal, was based, mainly, on the strength that comes with the supreme king of the archetypes that lie in the deepest part of the soul. tiva of the peoples since the dawn of time: the Symbol.

Encouraged, perhaps, by that celestial music, which, in defiance of time, space and imagination, seems to interpret the twenty-four elders of the Apocalypse - here is one of the recurring symbols that is very often found in the so-called Romanesque Way , apart from another type of more earthly musical allusions - in peremne symphony from the celestial archivolts of its west or main cover - remember that as in the case of the churches around O Cebreiro the pilgrim entered, symbolically, from death to rebirth , from sunset to light-, making the chorus to an evangelical figure -possibly, the titular saint-, contained, like Christ, in a mandorla, the pilgrim knows that his next stage is only a stone's throw away. kilometers that separate it from Paradela and twenty-three from Sarriá.

But it will not go through them, God willing, without first taking a look at the rest of the elements -mainly the other two covers-, which must be key and who knows if it is key, to open not only the doors of their perception, but also skin after the stages covered, but also, and not least, those of your imagination. Of the two, possibly the most transcendent, due to its rarity, it is the curious Annunciation that stands out in the tympanum of the north portal.

An Annunciation, in which the figures of the messenger Gabriel and Mary, are separated by an atypical element -perhaps it was replaced later, by the flowery jar that is found in almost all the allusive representations and is, likewise, an emblem of the Cistercian monasteries - as it is an arbor vitae with five branches, like the sides of the pentagon, a figure that, apart from other symbolic aspects, is generally associated with the figure of Our Lady.

Recall, as curious at least, the detail that this tree, in other nearby places, such as the church of San Salvador de Sarria and even the homonym of Vilar de Donas, is represented with six branches or six leaves, to the point of that, precisely in this last place, and at parochial instances, by this detail, it is called the demon tree.

The tympanum of the south portal, is occupied by three figures, one of them carrying a davidiense harp, being, probably the one of the center, allusive to the figure of the other titular santo: San Nicolás, although here, probably by a question of space, Obviously the DAGHIC element that accompanies it, which is none other than the cube or cauldron, inside which are represented, usually, the figures of three children, a symbol of rebirth, regeneration or, in short, immortality.

It is precisely on this southern side, where both the pilgrim, as the curious, as the traveler, will find a great and varied profusion of stonemasonry marks and where they are also, perhaps more abundant representations of cannibal monsters, officially devouring sinners , but which, symbolically, are related to the hardships and dangers that every search for Knowledge always entails. San Xoan de Portomarín: after all, a milestone in the way of the pilgrim.

Notes:

(1) Álvaro Cunqueiro: 'On the road of pilgrimages', Alba Editorial, S.L.U., first edition, Barcelona, February 2004, page 82.
(2) One of the best known cases, although in some sources it is also true that it is classified as imaginary or symbolic, is the one allegedly carried out by the famous French alchemist Nicolás Flamel.

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NOTICE: originally published in my blog ROMÁNICA, ENIGMAS DEL ROMÁNICO ESPAÑOL, although the photographs and video are unpublished in Steemit. Both the text, photographs, and video (with the exception of music, reproduced under a YouTube license) are my exclusive intellectual property. The original entry can be found at the following address: https://juancar347-romanica.blogspot.com.es/2015/08/portomarin-la-iglesia-de-san-nicolau-o.html

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