Little remains of what was once one of the most unique late Romanesque churches in Zamora. There is documentary evidence of its existence dating back to the early 13th century: a brief reference in 1204, which refers to the appearance of Joahanes Petri de Santo Leonardo in a lawsuit concerning a renunciation of property, and in 1223 in a lawsuit between a priest from San Leonardo and the inhabitants of La Puebla (Ferrero, 2013). It would therefore be a building from the end of the 12th century, completed in the following century. Gómez-Moreno transcribed the epitaphs engraved on its western doorway, which included the dates 1239, 1240, and 1251. The same historian described in detail the exterior of the western façade, where two high reliefs stood out: "On either side of the gable door, high up and on wide corbels with human heads and busts playing the lute and psaltery, there are figures of a lioness, perhaps guarding her cub, in front of a building with canopies and arches, and a lion, with a snake coiled at its feet, sheltered by dust covers with round arches and flowers. A 13th-century work in stone." One of these reliefs, the one depicting a lion, is preserved in The Cloisters. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is possible that an altar preserved by the same institution also comes from this temple. Above this door on the western gable, once the voussoirs had been carved, a statue of the Virgin Mary with the Child in her arms was placed, according to Gómez-Moreno's descriptions. This statue, which would be a work from the 14th or 15th century, was protected by a grille (Gómez-Moreno, 1903-1905). The parish reform of 1895 marked the end of the church of San Leonardo as a parish, although at the beginning of the 20th century it still hosted the celebration of the pilgrimage of San Mauro. In 1912, the bishopric demolished the tower, and shortly afterwards the building became the property of the antique dealer Fernando Martínez, who acquired the temple with the aim of selling its main artistic treasures. Its ruin increased over the years, and it even served as a coal store. The 1850 drawing by Avrial y Flores shows us what the temple must have looked like, as the current construction makes it difficult to imagine its former beauty.
Bibliography
(2002): Enciclopedia del Románico en Zamora, Fundación Santa María la Real, Aguilar de Campoo, pp. 525-528.
FERRERO, Florián (2013): "Comentario crítico de la lámina 42. Parroquia de S. Leonardo", en PÉREZ MARTÍN, Sergio y ANTONIO MARTÍN BAILÓN, Marco (coord.), Zamora Año de 1850. Cuaderno de vistas de Zamora tomadas del natural y ejecutadas por Don José María Avrial y Flores, Diputación Provincial de Zamora. Instituto de Estudios Zamoranos "Florián de Ocampo", Zamora.