Travelling through El Bierzo: the Templars of Corullón

León was always a particularly attractive land for a medieval order of chivalry, that of the Temple, where kings such as Fernando II - in whose court there was also an obscure Master mason, Mateo himself, who left his mark and his talent on the Portico of Glory of the cathedral most venerated by pilgrims, that of Compostela - provided them with lands and fortresses and where, in addition to settling in the vicinity of 'magical' places - that is, places of ancient worship - they also knew how to exploit gold mines, such as Rabanal del Camino or those, more important, that the Romans already sniffed out and plundered thoroughly: Las Médulas.

Precisely, in the direction of Las Médulas, leaving behind the city of Ponferrada and its superb fortress - in whose inner courtyard, curiously and until relatively recent times, the city team, Ponferradina, had its football field - near the Carucedo lake - of which legend has it that its origin was the tears shed by a nymph, who flooded the Roman camp of the consul Carisius as punishment for the damage caused in the mountains of Las Médulas to extract gold - and another famous Templar fortress, that of Cornatel - taken as the setting for a classic of Spanish literature, such as the novel by Enrique Gil Robles entitled 'El Señor de Bembibre' - there is a curious town, called Corullón. In Corullón, the badly damaged walls of another small castle survive, which, it is said, also belonged to the Knights Templar, as well as a church, Romanesque in origin, but much modified over time, dedicated to the figure of who is perhaps, after the episode of the in extremis exemption of the adulterous woman, the most famous stoning in history: Saint Stephen.

But our attention is focused on another extraordinary exponent of Romanesque architecture, which, in addition to being a well-deserved heritage asset and one of the few almost intact of its kind in León, some sources attribute to the Leonese Templars, however, without sufficient documentation to prove it: the solitary church of San Miguel.

Located on the outskirts of the town, on a small hill a few meters from the road, its harmonious layout draws attention due to the curious design, which, on its western side, gives rise to the bell gable.

Also, because, if it were not for the detail of the terrible erosion that affects the sculptural motifs that barely survive on the south façade, anyone would think they were looking at a modern mirage.

But the reality is that, in this slender structure, which possibly marks that period of transition between the Romanesque and Gothic styles, many of whose symbolic keys can hardly be 'read' anymore, we find ourselves before a structure that, after all, since the 13th century continues to defy time, in the same or similar mysterious way as those who supposedly raised it: the Templars of El Bierzo.

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