Built on the left bank of the river Tâmega, along a major thoroughfare linking the coast line to the interior of the river Douro, the Church of Saint Nicholas of Canaveses was founded after 1320. The main portal attests this late chronology: absence of columns and capitals. The entire building is devoid of ornamentation, thereby enhancing the later character of its so-called “românico de resistência” [resistance Romanesque].
Of modest dimensions, it was subjected to deep changes in the Modern Era marked by the opening of large rectangular windows in the chancel and in the nave. Also, the triumphal arches and the baptistery, in a classical language, were the work of this period.
Inside, granite ornaments prevail, although, given the existing traces, as the Middle Ages gave way to the Modern Era, the Church may have been coated with frescoes, as shown by the examples preserved. Accidentally discovered in 1973, today some panels with depictions of Saint Anthony remain, on the north wall of the nave, fragments of an Annunciation, on the triumphal arch on the same side, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, on the south side of the nave, a Benedictine saint, near the triumphal arch, on the south side, and another Annunciation, in overlay, on the same side of the nave.
Location: Marco de Canaveses
