The main door is made up of a horseshoe arch with asymmetric voussoirs (even number of voussoirs and radial cutting), which was modified with the introduction of a voussoir lintel . The ensemble shows an evident affinity with the Visigothic style . In the restoration works, they discovered that the arch does not have a constructive function (inside it is made up of cachote, the voussoirs do not reach the interior) so it is speculated that it is a replacement.
The arch rests on two semi-columns with monolithic shafts decorated with undulating plant motifs and attached to the jambs. The decoration takes us back to the Visigothic style and, the fact that the columns are attached to the jambs, to Asturian pre-Romanesque art, to examples such as those of the Church of Santa María del Naranco , despite the fact that in the latter the motifs and decorative shapes are very different.
The shafts are supported by bases made up of a plinth, two boceles and a semi-scotch. The holes in the bases could correspond to the existence of a closing gate.
The capitals are deliveries and in the form of a straight abacus decorated by four rows of fleshy leaves, belonging to a degenerate typology of the Visigothic type (in turn based on the Corinthian Roman). In the upper right corner of the right capital you can see a circular body and under this another figure in the shape of S. These capitals have similarities with those of the Asturian Church of San Miguel de Lillo or those of San Salvador de Priesca, product of the assimilation of elements of the traditional Visigothic style and influences of Ramirense art.
Iconography of the capital and right ashlar, and lattice.
The decoration of the capitals is prolonged in reliefs engraved directly on the ashlars similar to those of San Juan de Camba (Castro Caldelas). On both sides there is a haloed character mounted on a donkey carrying a possible bouquet in his hand and figures in robes coming out at him (two on the right and one on the left). They are very flat in size with a lowered bottom and are framed by a straight projection adjusted to the standing figures. On the interpretation of this representation there are several theories that coincide in pointing out that they are biblical scenes:
A first theory defends that they represent, one the Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and the other the Flight into Egypt .
A second theory defends that one represents the Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and the other represents Balaan detained by Angel .
A third considers it to be a duplication of the same scene, either the Entry into Jerusalem or the Flight into Egypt.
The arrangement in friezes of the reliefs seeking to highlight the horizontality leads us to the Visigothic ways of making, but on the contrary the chip technique used was not the bevel technique of this style, but rather presents similarities with Asturian art or ramirense.
Iconography of the capital and right ashlar.
The main door is flanked by two openings:
The left span is square with an interior and exterior spill.
The right span has a semicircular arch and is covered with a stone lattice 90 cm wide and 146.5 cm high. The lattice has an openwork of two rosaceae with eight superimposed petals and triangles interspersed between the leaves, and at the top three horseshoe arches. The latticework is framed with a 3 cm wide molding with a rope baquetón and framed in turn by a serpentine stem with bunches, and on top of the whole set four birds facing each other in pairs, pecking at the bunches. The style or styles of this piece divide the authors, since some see Visigothic influences, others Mozarabic and others of late Asturian art.
The Chapel of San Xes de Francelos is a small and simple Visigothic chapel that originally belonged to an old medieval monastery that has now disappeared. At present it is the result of various reconstructions that totally altered the original factory. Its importance and value lie in the fact that pre-Romanesque decorative and architectural elements from the previous buildings were used in the reconstructions , magnificent vestiges of a style little preserved in Galicia .
There are several controversies about its foundation. Some authors pointed out the existence of a monastery, from the ninth century , of Benedictine nuns or monks that was abandoned or incorporated into the monastery of Celanova and, its subsequent conversion as a royal dependent on the diocese of Tuy with the title of Santa María in the century XII , locating the existence of a new monastery in the XV century .
Analyzing the documentation, the first reference to Francelos is found in a document from the year 986 that includes a donation to the Monastery of San Salvador de Celanova , and in a document from the Tumbo de Celanova (preserved in the National Historical Archive) from the year 993 a new one appears reference made in the monastery of Francellos , thus documenting the existence of a monastic community.
How long this convent lasted and when it disappeared is difficult to determine. The truth is that in a document of 1156 dictated by Alfonso VII in which the division of tithes made between the bishop of Tuy and the Cabildo is mentioned as Church of Santa María de Francelis . During the twelfth to fourteenth centuries the population entity Francelos continues to appear in documents, such as in the year 1176 in which Ferdinand II of León granted the Francelos preserve to the Monastery of Santa María de Melón and other documents, but not in them. there are express mentions of the hermitage.
In this way we have that the first appointment of the chapel of Francelos is in a forum of the year 1424 that the Cabildo de Tuy makes to the inhabitants of the hermitage. Since this date in multiple documents of forums, leases and other legal businesses, the hermitage appears fully identified.
The Galician Visigothic coins bearing the legend fravcello and fr. Are supposed to be from Francelos . avcel . Today, the invocation of the Church is no longer the original one of Santa María Magdalena, but has changed to that of San Xes or San Ginés.
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