Hermitage of San Blas in Canillas
Asset of Patrimonial Interest of the Community of Madrid
La hermitage of San Blas, former parish church of San Juan Evangelista, is the only preserved construction of the old town of Canillas. It is a simple and sober construction that displays the characteristics of Madrid's baroque architecture of the 17th century, and contains wall paintings of historical and artistic interest.
The hermitage of San Blas, therefore, brings together significant architectural values and a significant technical level, both in its head and in the body of naves and added elements, while presenting artistic, cultural and historical values to be declared an Asset of Interest Patrimonial.
The hermitage of San Blas
The current church presents simple structures, where the different interior volumes stand out. The head is built with mixed rig. The walls are based on a masonry base and end in a double cornice. It is covered with a four-sided Arab tile roof. The two chapels located on both sides (currently San Blas and parish office) have the same construction system and the same molding on their cornices, gabled roofs.
At the foot of the temple is the main façade, greatly affected by numerous recent repairs that mask its original design. The interior presents a space characterized by austerity.
The chapel located on the south side, originally dedicated to Nuestra Señora de la Antigua, is decorated with mural painting executed in tempera, probably dated to the XNUMXth century. On the south wall, there is a semicircular niche-niche, around which all the decoration takes place. Archaeological work discovered that this opening was originally a dressing room dedicated to the Virgin, which was accessed through a small door on her right.
The wall is compartmentalized by fake moldings imitating marble, creating a structure around the central hole. In the upper part the figures of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne are represented and in the center the figure of God the Father with two angels.
Archaeological studies detected the existence of a primitive medieval church, probably from the XNUMXth or XNUMXth centuries, locating remains of foundations under the access arches to the chapels at the head.
Some time later, a new nave would be built, built in solid brick on a masonry base, although it is possible that the foundations or part of the walls of the original one were used. The existing building would be erected between the last decades of the XNUMXth century and during the XNUMXth century, showing a simple and sober architecture, still within the characteristic line of Madrid's baroque architecture of the XNUMXth century.
Declaration
After the conquest of the kingdom of Toledo by Alfonso VI in 1085, the entire area was repopulated during the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, thus giving rise to various inhabited nuclei around the town of Madrid (Barajas, La Alameda, Rejas, Hortaleza, Valverde, etc.), dependent on the Council of Madrid.
The oldest documentary reference to the village of Canillas appears in a land purchase deed dated in 1252. During the seventeenth century, These nuclei located in the surroundings of the capital suffer a significant depopulation as a consequence of the generalized crisis that affected the country, Canillas being one of the most affected villages.
around 1680, Baltasar de Molinet Jijón (Madrid 1615-1698), bought the jurisdiction, lordship and vassalage of Canillas, becoming the VII Lord of Canillas, the most important lord in the history of the town. A few years later, in December 1689, King Carlos II granted him the title of Count of Canillas for himself and his heirs.
The current hermitage is mentioned for the first time in a document dated 1427, although it is at the end of the XNUMXth century, when the important reform of the church took place, at the initiative and expense of Baron Sebastián de Molinet, VII Lord of Canillas, giving rise to to the new construction, entrusted to the Master Builders of the Villa de Madrid Lucas Ruiz de Heredia and Marcos López.
Inside the church there is a memorial headstone of slate set in the wall of the feet, with an engraved inscription in Latin alluding to the building of the church by Mr. Baltasar de Molinet, although it is not possible to determine when this tombstone was made.
In the upper part of the portico, on one of its pillars, was located the coat of arms of the Count of Canillas carved in stone, which appears in photographs dated around 1930. During the Civil War, the building was used as a store and market, disappearing all the ornaments and the aforementioned stone shield. Currently, a shield with their arms painted on the entrance arch to the head is preserved.
