Church of San Francisco de Betanzos

The city's medieval splendor can still be traced to the huge number of historical monuments Betanzos currently preserves, with numerous churches, convents, palaces and towers in its relatively small historic quarter.

There is a much greater number of monuments within the city walls, crossed by the Camino Inglés. One of the better cities at preserving its medieval past across the whole of Galicia, it also retains remnants of its wall inserts in the historical hamlet in the old town.

On one terrace with magnificent views of the outline of the city is one of the most important medieval complexes in Galicia, made up of the Church of Santa María do Azogue and the Church of San Francisco The former is an elegant Roman temple and lavishly decorated.

… the magnificent Gothic roof of the neighboring Church of San Francisco just a few feet away. Nowhere else in Galicia can we find two monuments of such importance in such a small amount of space.

The magnificent church with its Latin cross floor plan is what little remains of the old Franciscan convent. Its elegant austerity, both inside and outside, is characteristic of mendicant Gothic architecture, with examples in Galicia including the Bonaval (Santiago de Compostela) and San Domingos (Pontevedra).

The interior, with its incredibly high lancet windows, creates a typical space of devotion and faith promoted by these orders. It has an architecture which is beautiful in its simplicity, where the light is the main protagonist of the message of its construction.

The construction of this temple was driven by one of the biggest figures of the Galician Middle Ages: Fernán Pérez de Andrade, "O Boo", feudal lord of the region and patron of the Franciscan convent. His luxurious tomb continues to be one of Betanzo's greatest attractions. In fact, the whole church is literally filled with tombs.

It is a window to the final centuries of the Middle Ages, the flourishing of its cities and the power struggles between noble families. All this can be experienced by making a stop on our Camino at this jewel of Gothic architecture.