The name of this town comes from its location on a mountain pass and from the worship of the martyr, Saint Vincent.
In the Middle Ages, on the top of the mountain pass that used to link the kingdom of Toledo with Extremadura, was built a shrine dedicated to Saint Vincent, who was born in Talavera de la Reina and martyred in Avila during Diocletian’s persecutions. But before that, in the time of the Visigoths, there was a church presumably dedicated to the same saint. This spot was crossed by the Roman road linking Emerita Augusta and Toletum. The old Roman road was used in the Middle Ages, particularly when as the monastery of Santa MarÃa de Guadalupe gained prestige, in the mid-16th century. It was possibly then than the worship of Saint Vincent gained force, and his shrine was restored, which had been originally built in the 13th century. The complex, integrated by the old cattle road, the military road, the shrine, and the inn built next to it, was the cause of the local population.
MONUMENTOS
Parish Church of San Vicente:
The church used to belong to the parish of Santiago de Zarzuela, later on to La Estrella and Mohedas, until it became independent. The current church was probably built on the original shrine to Saint Vincent. Santiago Zamora has discovered a 1624 document in which the church is described as having “one nave, a large chapel with three altars, the largest of them with a golden altarpiece and fine painting and two lateral altars in poor although decent alcoves. The vestry is next to the gospels, and has few ornaments and little silver. The choir and the font are in the chapel at the end of the church, and have a closet for the oils.
It is built in stone and lime. The roof is wooden, all new, and has a steeple with two bells and a small cymbal, all of it clean and tastefulâ€. Nothing remains of the altarpiece and its paintings, and the religious images were destroyed during the Civil War, which raged through this region, as it was a frontier between both sides for a long time and due to the passing of the Phantom Column at the beginning of the war.
The steeple later became a tower, and its first body houses the baptistery in good granite stone. The Visigothic supports can also be found inside the church.
Pilancón Fountain:
Next to the church is the Pilancón fountain, one of the fountains around which the town was built. There are also many folk architecture elements in town which show the Extremaduran influence in the large chimneys in which pork would be cured. The town is a typical hillside town which sprouted on both sides of a road, but which has recently grown towards the modern road.
Fossile Musem:
Puerto de San Vicente conserva un pequeño museo de fósiles, ya que toda esta zona, desde Mohedas de la Jara hasta aquÃ, es rica en estos vestigios de remotos pobladores.
.png){kind=small}
