SAINT MARY OF PEXEIROS

The parochial temple, of popular baroque style, has a Latin cross-shaped plan and the classic East-West orientation. Erected in an atrium located in the centre of the village, it has a single nave with a sloping floor (a very rare feature) and an elevated apse protected by a gabled roof.
 
An external staircase, carved in fine stonework, gives access to the strong and solid bell gable. Its main structure houses two bells under a pair of semicircular arches separated from the doorjambs by means of imposts. The structure is crowned by a solid triangular pediment flanked by pyramidal pinnacles ending in a ball that still retains two putlock holes (openings located in the wall that served to introduce wooden beams to form part of a scaffolding or framework).
 

In the building as a whole, the following decorative value of certain elements stands out (the railing of the exterior staircase, also some arrow slit windows...), but above all that of the main access door is the most impressive. It stands out for its jambs and stirated semicircular arch, but mainly for the decorative circles (flowers and decorative motifs inserted in a circle) that adorn the space located between the arch and the frame (the moulding that outlines the exterior of the arch).
 
The interior of the temple is protected by a magnificent wooden coffered ceiling that houses inside the apse a magnificent baroque altarpiece divided into three sections by means of Solomonic columns decorated with branches and clusters. In the center of the composition is a contemporary image of the coronation of the Virgin carved according to the taste of the time: a diagonal gesture to add dynamism and theatricality to the scene, overhanging cloths to play with the light-dark, royal metallic crown to emphasize the realism of the image, etc. In the attic of the altarpiece is a representation of the crucifixion - with a walled Jerusalem in the background - and, crowning the sculptural structure, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove surrounded by a radiant nimbus.