Church of Saints John

Church of Saints John

The Church and the Archbishop's Palace

The Church of San Juan is Puçol's most representative monument today. It was part of a larger monumental complex that included an archbishop's palace and a botanical garden. These no longer exist, but they are fundamental to understanding the history of the church.

Puçol was an episcopal seigniory where bishops and archbishops had a palace for short periods of rest. Saint John of Ribera, Archbishop of Valencia, built the Church of San Juan, right next to this palace. And, as in Valencia, he constructed a covered passageway, that is, an elevated walkway connecting the palace and the church so that parishioners wouldn't have to go down to the street to attend Mass.

Construction of the church began in 1587, and a year later, on April 29, 1588, Saint John of Ribera blessed the first stone.

The master stonemasons were Antonio de Xado and Pedro de Xado, natives of Argoños (Cantabria). Juan de Fresnedo, Pedro de Fresnedo, Pedro del Solar, and Pedro de Ris, all also from Cantabria, worked on the construction of the church.

The church's construction was inspected every six years by Guillem del Rey and Joan Cambra, important master builders who worked on the Patriarchal and Monastery of San Miguel de los Reyes, respectively.

The Church of San Juan was an architectural landmark at the time, so much so that its master builders were commissioned to construct the Monastery of El Puig.

After twenty years of construction, Tomás de Espinosa, Auxiliary Bishop of Valencia, consecrated the church on October 28, 1607, and Saint John of Ribera transferred the Blessed Sacrament from the old church to the new one and celebrated the first Mass.

Façade

The main façade is of great artistic value. It was designed between 1588 and 1589 by Juan de Ambuesa, a native of Paris who was highly renowned in Valencia for his architectural expertise. He also worked on the Monastery of San Miguel de los Reyes and the Patriarchal Palace.

Unfortunately, Ambuesa died before he could build it, so finally, following his plans, Antonio de Xado and Pedro del Solar completed it in 1593.

The stone altarpiece is in the Classical style with Mannerist details and is crowned by a prelatial coat of arms, a symbol of the jurisdiction that the archbishops of Valencia held over Puçol and the Church of San Juanes. The images in the niches are recent; they were placed and blessed in 1975 and represent the Virgin at the Foot of the Cross, Saint John the Baptist, and Saint John the Evangelist, patrons of the church.

On the exterior, the bell tower is also noteworthy, built with stone blocks and crowned by a small temple with brick buttresses.

Interior

The church has a single nave with side chapels between buttresses. All the chapels have semicircular arches except for the first two, which are pointed. The nave is divided into five bays by slightly pointed transverse arches. The vault of the apse is ribbed with tracery in the Neo-Gothic style. The overall effect is characterized by the purity of lines, grandeur, and luminosity typical of the Renaissance. The pilasters, decorated in a marble-like style, and the stucco cladding date from the last third of the 19th century.

In the two chapels closest to the altar, there are two galleries: one above the side door, a reminder of the former connection between the church and the archbishop's palace, and the other in front of it, where an organ once stood.

The main altar is Baroque in style and features two statues of Saint John, set between Solomonic columns. But undoubtedly the most striking feature of the altar is the baldachin and the marble table depicting the four Evangelists: Saint Matthew, Saint John, Saint Mark, and Saint Luke, holding the book of the seven seals. This altar was consecrated on September 8, 1944.

In the sacristy is preserved one of the most important pieces of the church: a dust cover from a Gothic altarpiece, likely from the original church, representing God the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Chapel of Communion

The Chapel of Communion is attached to the church, parallel to its nave, and has two entrances, one outside and the other inside the church. It was built between 1740 and 1747 under the direction of the parish priest, Tomás Aparisi. Later, in the 19th century, the parish priest Joaquín Alemany decided to extend it, and it was blessed in 1827. As a result of this extension, the dome was displaced from the center, and different types of plinths can be seen.

Two anonymous 17th-century paintings are preserved, depicting Jesus Christ instituting the sacrament of the Eucharist and the beheading of Saint John the Baptist.

But the most important work is the altarpiece carved by Manuel Vergara in 1748, one of the members of the great Vergara family. It is currently the only one by this master carpenter that has survived.

This altarpiece originally housed an image of the Immaculate Conception, which was destroyed during the war. From that moment on, it housed the church's treasure: the painting of the Virgin at the Foot of the Cross, patron saint of Puçol, which was previously located in the second chapel on the right.

This painting was found by the Venerable Pedro Muñoz on the Cabeçol del Puig mountain in 1570. This important discovery led, among other things, to the construction of the new Church of San Juanes, a larger church worthy of housing this treasure.

Crypt

The entrance to the crypt is located at the foot of the church. It is accessed by a small staircase of 14 stone steps. It is rectangular in shape and measures 7.20 meters long by 4.30 meters wide and 3 meters high. The floor is tiled and the ceiling is a stone barrel vault. At the far end, a ceramic altarpiece of Christ on the cross can be seen.

Currently, the crypt is filled with earth because it served as a shelter during the Spanish Civil War. Two tunnels were excavated from inside, one leading to the Plaza San Juan de Ribera, where the archbishop's palace would have been, and the other leading to Calle San Juan. The first tunnel is approximately 40 meters long, and the second approximately 20 meters. Currently, the tunnels lead nowhere.