Church of Our Lady of La Barca
Chapter 9/11 · Navia
This is the parish church of Our Lady of La Barca, consecrated on 30 October 1895. It replaced a 14th-century Gothic church, already in ruins, that stood on the site of today's market square, the place known as El Pañolito.
It was paid for with the fortune of the parish priest Juan Trueba y Cano, born in Navia in 1831 to parents from Santander. He was a cultured man who studied French and Italian and travelled through France and Italy. Worried about the ruinous state of the old church, he left all his money in his will for a new one. He died in 1881 without seeing it, and his remains rest inside, under a marble plaque. The church's street bears his name.
It was designed by the architect Luis Bellido González in the neo-Gothic style, with a Latin cross plan, three naves, a wide transept and a slender square tower at the west end. Inside, look out for the carved pulpit, the gold and silver tabernacle, the altarpiece of the Immaculate Conception and two paintings by Álvaro Delgado, adopted son of Navia. Opposite, a house with a small coat of arms is linked to the marquisate of Santa Cruz.
Legend has it that the Virgin of La Barca appeared on the high sea to some fishermen caught in a storm, which calmed as soon as they called her name, and that afterwards they found her image floating on the water. Her feast, on 15 August, is the most popular in the municipality, and it is celebrated together with that of San Roque, on the 16th.
Now we continue east along Calle Ramón de Campoamor to the San Roque Chapel.
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