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I share in La Vanguardia Readers’ Photos these photographs of the beautiful Soria Romanesque church of San Juan de Rabanera, one of the 35 parishes that appear in the census of Alfonso X the Wise carried out in the year 1270.
It is so beautiful that, not without reason, the poet Gerardo Diego wrote: “Oh, San Juan de Rabanera, if I could steal you!” But, no, it is still there, in its location, without anyone having been able to take it or destroy it.
And it owes its name to the origin of the people, Rabanera del Campo, who between 1109 and 1119 settled and repopulated Soria.
Inside it houses two impressive crucifixes. The one on the main altar, popularly known as Cristo del Olvido or Cillerero, is Romanesque and comes from the old church of the Monastery of San Polo.
The other is the so-called Christ of Forgiveness. It is located in the transept framed by a baroque altarpiece-frame. It is from the 17th century and is attributed to Manuel Pereira.
The church was declared a National Monument in 1929 and an Asset of Cultural Interest in the year 2000. After undergoing important transformations throughout the baroque period, the latest restorations carried out in the early and mid-20th century managed to largely restore its essence and Romanesque purity.
