Church of San Juan Bautista, Baños de Cerrato
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Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
In Roman times
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, the area was devoted to vacationing and relaxation, with many private villas dotting the landscape. The nearby town of Venta de Baños
Venta de Baños
Venta de Baños is a village and municipality of about 5,880 located in El Cerrato, in the province of Palencia, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León, central Spain. It is located south of the provincial capital, Palencia. Noteworthy monuments include its Visigothic church of San...
is presently larger and more important than Baños de Cerrato.
The church was commissioned by the Visigoth
Visigoth
The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, the Ostrogoths being the other. These tribes were among the Germans who spread through the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period...
ic king Recceswinth of Hispania
Hispania
Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
(the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
, comprising modern Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
), in the year 661 and whose solemn consecration ceremony is believed to have taken place on the 3rd of January, 661. It is located in a the fertile Pisuerga River
Pisuerga River
The Pisuerga is a river in northern Spain, the Duero's second largest tributary. It rises in the Cantabrian Mountains in the province of Palencia, autonomous region of Castile and León....
valley, near the confluence with the Carrión River
Carrión River
The Carrión is a river in northern Spain. Its source is in the mountain range called Fuentes Carrionas, and it is a tributary of the river Pisuerga. The entire course of the river is within the province of Palencia....
. In Roman times as under the Visigoths, this was an important grain-producing region.
The church was built as a royal foundation under the control of the Bishops of Palencia
Palencia
Palencia is a city south of Tierra de Campos, in north-northwest Spain, the capital of the province of Palencia in the autonomous community of Castile-Leon...
. According to scholars, it is the oldest and most original extant Visigothic church in Spain. Moreover, it has an original inscription in the stones over its triumphal entry, in awkward capital letters. This text is also preserved in a codex of the Tenth century, copied from a Toledan
Toledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
manuscript from the Eighth century.
The excavations that were carried out in 1956 and 1963 yielded a medieval necropolis of 58 tombs to the north-west of the church and discovered three pieces of Seventh century bronze: two belt buckles in the shape of a lyre and one liturgical object.