Sao Torcato Basilica

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Sao Torcato Basilica
inner space

The São Torcato Basilica ( Santuário de São Torcato in Portuguese ) is a Roman Catholic pilgrimage church in the parish of São Torcato in the Guimarães district in northern Portugal . The church in the Archdiocese of Braga is dedicated to the martyr and bishop St. Torcato and has the rank of minor basilica . It is protected as an architectural monument .

history

St. According to tradition, Torcato was executed with the sword in the company of his 27 companions during the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in 719. Today the Fonte do Santo rises here in a chapel. The body, discovered in the 8th century, has been venerated in the place named after him for a long time. In the 11th century a monastery was founded on the spot. Attempts to transfer his bones from the chapel in the parish church to other places such as Braga were repeatedly foiled by the population around 1597 and 1637, the brotherhood, which is still active today, was founded in 1693.

Work on the construction of the church began in 1825 according to plans by Luiz Ignácio de Barros Lima. The plans were revised in 1868 as part of an international tender by Louis Bohnfeld and adjusted again in 1894 by Silva de Marques. In 2015 the construction work was completed with the consecration of the church . In September 2019 the church was granted the rank of minor basilica by Pope Francis . The celebrations for the survey took place on February 27, 2020.

architecture

The church was built in the style of eclecticism . Under the conducting Neo Manueline were classical , neo-Gothic , neo - and neo-Romanesque style used elements. Regional granite was used as the material . In a large park, a wide staircase leads to the southern double tower facade , the bell towers of which rise almost 50 meters. Between the towers, the central body is closed by a frieze with geometrical motifs under a cornice, overlaid by a triangular pediment above a dwarf gallery showing the image of St. Torcato and bearing a Celtic cross. Behind it, the single-nave church, built on a cross-shaped floor plan, opens up; its main nave is 57 meters long and 17.5 meters wide, the transept is 37 meters by 11 meters. The octagonal crossing dome rises above a drum with high arched windows. The church has six side altars and is equipped with stained glass windows.

Web links

Commons : São Torcato Basilica  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Basilica de São Torcato on gcatholic.org
  2. ↑ a b c Santuário de São Torcato on monumentos.gov.pt (Portuguese)
  3. ↑ a b Nova Basílica de Portugal guarda "santinho" do povo. In: Diário do Minho. January 19, 2020, accessed March 13, 2020 (Portuguese).
  4. ^ Paulo Novais: A Basílica de São Torcato. March 4, 2020, accessed March 13, 2020 (Portuguese).

Coordinates: 41 ° 28 ′ 54.4 "  N , 8 ° 15 ′ 31.2"  W.