"The Church of Santiago is one of the parish temples that we find as we pass through the town of Betanzos . It is located in the historic center of the town, on Lanzós Street.
What is the church of Santiago like?
The church of Santiago is a Gothic style temple that dates back to the 15th century. The name of Fernán Pérez de Andrade "O Mozo" is linked to that of this church because he was responsible for its construction. The temple, with a basilica plan and three naves, was built on an old Romanesque church.
Although we are talking about a church from the transition period from Romanesque to Gothic, the truth is that many of its elements are more modern, as they are the work of later modifications and reconstructions. This is the case of the current façade, a work that was built between 1899 and 1901 and in a neomedieval style. On the façade, the two towers that flank the central body draw attention and are visible from a good part of the town of Betanzos because the church itself is located at the top of a hill.
The Gothic doorway of the façade, dedicated to Santiago, is the only thing that remains of the original Gothic façade. The apostle appears in the decoration of the tympanum surrounded by an ornamentation of archivolts and crooked columns that give an appearance to the entrance of the temple. Above the cover there is a large rose window.
Less modern is another of the towers attached to the church, the municipal clock tower. This hexagonal tower was built during the 16th century.
Inside
If we go inside the temple of Santiago we will see a layout with four different chapels, the Arcediano chapel being the most notable due to its similarity to the chapel of the Hospital of the Catholic Monarchs of Santiago. The entire interior of the church gives off a Xacobean aroma, since the motifs on the capitals with scallop shells or figures of pilgrims remind us that we are in front of one of the temples that are an obligatory stop on the English Way route to the Cathedral of Santiago .
In another of the chapels, the one entrusted to the Virgin of Lourdes, we can see the grave of Gómez García de la Torre. It is not the only tomb inside this church, which also houses the tomb of Don Pedro de Ben.
Another of the most notable pieces inside the church of Santiago de Betanzos is the Elizabethan altarpiece of Saints Peter and Saints. It is one of the most representative works of the Plateresque style that we have in Galicia and was designed by Corneille of Holland in the 16th century.
Following the English Way towards the Cathedral of Santiago we find the Church of Santiago, in Betanzos. It is a transitional temple from Romanesque to Gothic that was built in the 15th century by order of Fernán Pérez de Andrade. Its current façade is from the end of the 19th century, beginning of the 20th century and has two towers that are one of the symbols of the skyline of the Historic Center of Betancense."
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