CHURCH OF ST. MARTIN OF TOURS

The Church of San Martín de Tours is located in Plaza del Corrillo, a stone's throw from Plaza Mayor. From the outside, it is difficult to appreciate its true significance, as the temple is now nestled between the surrounding buildings and attached to the south wing of Plaza Mayor. Founded in 1103 by Martín Fernández in the Toreses neighborhood, it is considered the second most important Romanesque temple in Salamanca, only behind the Old Cathedral. It's no wonder it is often described as a reduced version of it.

It was probably built on the site of an old hermitage dedicated to Saint Peter. In its origins, it must have been a modest building of reduced dimensions, as at that time, the economic and social conditions necessary to undertake a construction of the scale presented by the current church did not exist.

The current church was begun around 1160, shortly after the cathedral, with which it bears great similarities. It is possible that the monumentality of the new temple responded to the desire to dignify an environment where an incipient market was beginning to consolidate. In fact, by 1173, the esplanade where it was built was known as the plaza or market of San Martín, as the merchants' stalls were distributed around the temple. Over time, the church was called San Martín del Mercado and later San Martín de la Plaza. Its courtyard soon became the main commercial and civic center of the new city. The ringing of its bells —and later its clock— marked the daily rhythm of Salamanca.

During the Middle Ages, the church's portico served as the headquarters for the Council meetings. It also played a prominent role in the religious life of the city, especially in processions and Corpus Christi festivities, which the parish funded with theatrical performances, fire castles, and bullfights.

The numerous tombs preserved along the perimeter walls show that the church was a burial place for the noble families residing in the vicinity of Plaza de San Martín. The most notable are in the apse of the Gospel, formerly the chapel of San Blas and later the pantheon of the Santiesteban family.

From its early centuries, the church presented structural problems, visible in the inclination of the pillars of the south nave. These deficiencies worsened in the 18th century when several sections of the central nave collapsed. They were replaced by plastered brick vaults under the direction of Jerónimo García de Quiñones.

The fire of 1854 destroyed the magnificent altarpiece created in 1621 by the royal architect Juan Gómez de Mora, which featured reliefs and sculptures by Esteban de Rueda and Antonio de Paz. The altarpiece that now presides over the main chapel comes from the former chapel of the Colegio de Anaya —currently the parish of San Sebastián—. It is an ungilded wooden Baroque altarpiece, attributed to Alberto de Churriguera

The Church of San Martín, despite being partially hidden today among modern buildings, is the most relevant Romanesque temple in Salamanca after the Old Cathedral. Its architecture corresponds to a basilical plan with three naves, with semicircular apses in the side naves and a polygonal one in the central nave. The chapels at the head are covered with quarter-sphere vaults and the presbytery with a pointed barrel vault. The central nave also features pointed barrel vaults, while the lateral ones are covered with annular vaults reinforced with ribs.

Throughout its history, the building has undergone various transformations. In the late 13th century, a large oculus was opened in the western gable, while the original openings of the side naves were walled up when constructions were added to the exterior. In the 18th century, two sections of the central nave collapsed, rebuilt by Jerónimo García de Quiñones, who raised the walls, opened new windows, and added a classical entablature that concealed part of the Romanesque capitals.

The Romanesque sculptural decoration is concentrated in capitals and keystones, with a predominance of vegetal motifs and a varied zoomorphic iconography typical of medieval bestiaries: mermaids, double-headed eagles, birds with human heads, lions, and other fantastic figures.

The original altarpiece, a work by Juan Gómez de Mora (1621), was lost in the 1854 fire. The current one comes from the Colegio de Anaya and is an unguilded wooden Baroque altarpiece, attributed to Churriguera, with images of Saint Martin (or Saint Blaise), Saint Roch, and the Holy Family, and an attic housing the painting of Saint Martin on horseback.

The temple had three Romanesque doors. The north portal, the only one visible today, features four archivolts —one of them lobed— and capitals with harpies, dragons, intertwined birds, and acanthus leaves. Above it stands a large pointed arch housing the high-relief of Saint Martin on horseback sharing his cloak with a beggar. The south portal was hidden behind a late-Renaissance façade from the 16th century, presided over by a relief of Saint Martin and medallions of Saint Peter and Saint Paul; behind it, the original Romanesque portal is preserved.

The West Portal, located at the foot of the temple, was walled up in 1698 and was rediscovered during restoration works carried out in 1958. Its six Romanesque archivolts preserve traces of polychromy and rich vegetal decoration; one of the archivolts depicts a medieval agricultural calendar. This door now provides access to the Chapel of Carmen, originally dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, built by José Benito Churriguera in the late 17th century. Presided over by an image of the Virgin of Carmen, it has a dressing room whose window features rich Churrigueresque decoration on the exterior. It is covered by a small dome internally decorated with the attributes of the Passion. The side altars are dedicated to Saint Lucy and Saint Anne.

Next to it, at the foot of the Gospel nave, is the Chapel of Count Grajal, founded in 1413 by Juan Rodríguez de Villafuerte; renovated in 1784, it features a Baroque altarpiece housing the carvings of the supposed Salmantine martyrs Arcadio, Probo, Eutiquio, Pascasi, and the child Páulo.

At the beginning of the 16th century, the choir, a work by Juan de Álava, and its staircase were added, whose Plateresque handrail features beautiful dolphin and grotesque decoration. From this area, one can access the roofs and the bell gable, a true viewpoint from which magnificent panoramic views towards the Rúa - with the church of La Clerecía and the New Cathedral in the background - and towards the Plaza del Poeta Iglesias are obtained.

The church preserves numerous tombs of noble families who resided in the vicinity of the Plaza de San Martín, mainly from the 15th and 16th centuries. The most prominent are found in the old chapel of San Blas, the Santiesteban family pantheon, where the reclining sculpture of Roberto de Santiesteban stands out, depicted in a sleeping posture, recalling the melancholic gesture of the famous Doncel de Sigüenza.

At the foot of the Gospel nave, inside the old baptistery, the baldachin which was carried in procession during Corpus Christi has been placed. Made of silver-plated wood, it has been recently restored.