Church of San Pablo, Palencia

Description

The Church of San Pablo was founded between 1219 and 1220 by Saint Dominic de Guzmán, who had been educated at the Studium Generale in Palencia. The Dominican church played a very prominent role over time, as it served as the seat of the Cortes Generales of Castile on several occasions. Originally, the church was Romanesque; however, between the 14th and 15th centuries, it was remodeled and adapted to the Late Gothic style (Andrés, 1990). Inside, the main chapel stands out; it was decorated with Renaissance pieces and houses the tombs of the first and third Marquises of Poza, benefactors of the complex (Prieto, 2020). It once featured an altarpiece dedicated to Saint Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins, which was dismantled in the late 19th century. Today, the altarpiece is scattered among various museums and institutions:

• Four panels from the upper section are in the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid (“Saint Ursula’s Arrival in England,” “Saint Ursula’s Request for Marriage,” “The King of England Is Informed of Saint Ursula’s Proposal,” and “The Baptism of Conan in the Presence of Saint Ursula and His Father”).
• Another four are at the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Liverpool (“Saint Ursula Preaching to the Eleven Thousand Virgins,” “Saint Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins Arrive in Rome,” “Saint Ursula Before the King of the Huns,” and “The Martyrdom of the Eleven Thousand Virgins”).
• Two of them are in the Zorn Museum in Mora (Saint Bartholomew and Saint Mary Magdalene).
•  Four figures of saints from the predella are in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Saints Sebastian and Catherine of Alexandria and Saints Margaret and Bartholomew).
• One panel is at the Fogg Art Museum atHarvard University, recently located by Fernando Pérez Suescun (Saint Dominic).
• Finally, three other panels are currently missing. 

During the War of Independence, it was used as a barracks by the French army and was subsequently confiscated in 1835 (García, 1986). In the early 20th century, the old convent was demolished and a new building was constructed. It was designated a National Historic-Artistic Monument in 1931.

Bibliography

• ANDRÉS, Salvador (1990): "Los Dominicos en Palencia: El convento de San Pablo", en Jornadas sobre el arte de las Órdenes religiosas en Palencia, Diputación Provincial de Palencia, Palencia.
• GARCÍA, Pablo (1986): La Ciudad de Palencia en el siglo XIX: la desamortización y su transformación urbanística (1836-1868), Diputación Provincial de Palencia, Palencia.
• PRIETO, Ester (2020): "La iglesia palentina de San Pablo: breve estudio sobre sus retablos (siglos XV-XVII)", ACCADERE. Revista de Historia del Arte.