San Nicolás el Real

Today: Iglesia de San Nicolás el Real, Villafranca del Bierzo

Place: Villafranca del Bierzo
Kind: Church
Built: 17th century
What remains: Standing
Visiting: Open to visit

The 17th-century church and convent, a former Jesuit college, modelled on the one at Monforte, which in turn imitates El Escorial. The church follows the Jesuit pattern, a single nave on a cross plan with a flattened dome and lantern, and the cloister has two orders of arches. It was the seat of the diputación of the province of El Bierzo in the 19th century and now houses the natural-history museum of the Padres Paúles.

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