San Pedro de la Nave
The Visigothic church of San Pedro de la Nave ("St. Peter of the Ship") is located in the town of Campillo, in the municipal unit of San Pedro de la Nave-Almendra, in the province of Zamora (in Spain). It was declared a national monument on April 22, 1912.
The church building goes back to the 7th Century, having been built between 680 and 711, that is to say, in the years before the Muslim invasion, and is thus one of the last works of Visigothic architecture. Originally the church was sited on the banks of the river Esla, but, when the Dam of Ricobayo was built, it was moved to avoid submersion in the higher waters of the Esla. Thanks to the efforts of Manuel Gómez Moreno, it was decided that the church would be moved stone by stone to its current location. This operation was carried out between the years 1930 and 1932, under the direction of the architect Alejandro Ferrant Vázquez.
The church's first design responded to a Greek cross plan, although later two lateral naves were added that gave it a hybrid shaped between basilical and cruciform. It also has two rooms, one on each side of the Presbitery, that must have served as hermits' cells. All of this put together creates a rectangular plan of approximately 16.8 by 11.2 meters, from which three chapels project: The rectangular central apse, and two others at the either end of the transept. The central nave, as is usually the case, is taller and wider than the aisles and is separated from them by arches supported by strong pillars.
The roof of the church is supported by a barrel vault, but while the vault of the nave and the aisles retains its original stone structure, the western sections of the building are vaulted in brick from the earlier springing points of the ashlar masonry. The arches used are of the horseshoe type (greater than half a circle) of Visigothic architecture. The two arches perpendicular to the axis of the nave spring from impost blocks supported on columns attached to the piers. The arch opening onto the apse is a tighter horseshoe shape resting on two columns in the jambs of the opening.
The decoration of the church is among the most outstanding of Visigothic architecture. There are two types of elements deriving from different artistic conceptions and different craftsmen: First, a wide frieze corresponding to a course of the ashlar masonry, which shows a successions of circles with various vegetal and animal motives; Second, the capitals of the engaged columns. These are of an excellent workmanship superior to that of the frieze. They show historiated scenes extracted from the bible, such as Daniel in the Lion's Den or The Sacrifice of Isaac. Their abacus blocks are decorated with volutes containing human and animal figures.
There is also a clock inscribed on a stone in interior wall of the church. The clock was never finished, but remains one of the marvels of this Visigothic church.