Convento de San Blas (Lerma)
The Convento de San Blas is a Dominican convent in the heart of the municipality of Lerma in the Spanish province of Burgos .
history
As part of the expansion of the medieval town of Lerma into a representative ducal seat, Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas (1553–1625), the Margrave of Denia and Duque ( duque ) of Lerma, decided to settle a community of Dominican women in his city. He chose the church on the south side of the Ducal Palace ( Palacio Ducal ) as his house church ; it was connected to the upper floor of the ducal palace by a high arcade corridor - demolished in the 19th century.
The design architect of the church was probably Francisco de Mora , who also designed the plans for the ducal palace - but he died in 1610 and so three other architects dealt with the construction: Alberto de la Madre de Dios , Damián de Espinosa and Juan de Reoz . The construction was completed in the years 1613-1617; The church and convent building are considered to be important representatives of the late Herrera style .
With an interruption in the 19th century, nuns still live in the cloister buildings; they make hand-painted ceramics that are sold to tourists.
architecture
facade
With vertical corner pilasters, horizontal cornices, a figure niche, two coats of arms within garlands and several - albeit unmistakable - rectangular windows, the facade of the church does not appear quite as strict and linear as that of the neighboring ducal palace. The niche figure represents St. Blasius , one of the 14 emergency helpers of the Catholic Church ; the church is consecrated to him.
inner space
The single-nave interior is largely unadorned. What is striking, however, is the large altar retable on the back wall of the flat closed choir area , which was created by reusing some older pictures and a wooden statue of St. Blaise surrounded by other images of saints. Juan Gómez de Mora , the nephew of the aforementioned architect Francisco de Mora, is responsible for the conception of the altogether rather strict-looking retable in its geometric-linear structure .
Web links
- San Blas Convent - Photos + Info (Spanish)
Coordinates: 42 ° 1 ′ 31 ″ N , 3 ° 45 ′ 18 ″ W.