Mother Church Of Sernancelhe

The Mother Church has always been the village's most significant monument. It was built at the end of the 12th century and stands on a rocky outcrop with graves carved into the rock. This monument is framed by the 16th century pillory, with its cage, the house of the Counts of Lapa and the Solar dos Carvalhos, built by Paulo de Carvalho, uncle of the Marquis of Pombal. The Church of S. João Baptista has a longitudinal floor plan consisting of a nave, chancel, side chapels, sacristy and a 17th-century bell tower with a square design, attached to the front. This opens onto the main Romanesque portal, with a round arch and three archivolts - the outer ones are simple and the central one is adorned with twelve angels with open wings - supported by columns with smooth, cylindrical shafts, crowned with capitals with small volutes. In the archivolts there are two niches, each with three sculptures under canopies depicting the Evangelists and St. Peter and Paul. This sculptural ensemble is an unusual element in the national Romanesque style. The tympanum, the pinnacles and the small oculus are more modern. As for the dogs that decorate the exterior of the sacristy and chancel on the north side, they represent domestic utensils and animals, busts of women, a child, a kite with a star painted in ochre, and a woman with her hands on her belly in obvious labor. The magnificent heritage of this church, along with the artistic diversity of its interior, has earned the Church of Sernancelhe its rightful classification as an extraordinary example of Romanesque architecture in Portugal.