The largest and the most important church in Noya is that of San Martin, which dates from the year 1434, and was built by Archbishop Lopez de Mendoza. This edifice has been singled out by Señor Lamperez as a fine and typical example of Galicia’s popular style of architecture, a style which, dominated by laws dictated by local common sense, abandoned the exotic styles which had preceded it, and boldly adopted both the traditions and the materials that were to be found on the spot. This popular architecture was divided into two branches, under the first of which may be classed the parish churches, and under the second those attached to the monasteries--the conventual churches;[239] these are two distinct types, but they have one characteristic in common, namely, the wooden roof, the kind best suited to the conditions
[Illustration: THE BED OF SAN MAMED, NOYA]
[Illustration: CLOISTER OF SAN JUSTO DE TOJOSUTOS, NOYA]
of the country. A wide nave covered with a roof of wood offered no difficulties as to equilibrium; we find it in some of the ancient architecture of Syria; and in the Middle Ages it was introduced, as Lamperez reminds us, both in the churches of Languedoc and in those of Catalonia and Valencia. Galicia was very slow to adopt the Gothic style; she clung to the older ones, the Byzantine and the Romanesque, long after these had been completely abandoned in other parts of Spain, and the consequence is that she does not possess a single edifice that may be termed a good example of the Gothic style. There is no province, however, in which the travellers will find a more favourable opportunity of studying the period of Transition.
Outwardly the church of San Martin appears to be of a very much earlier date than that which is inscribed upon the lintel of the principal entrance. It has a heavy, square, fortress-like look, and its lofty apse is castellated, evidently with a view to its adaptability as a fort in times of warfare. Here again we see how circumstances--the imminent possibility of Noya having to defend herself against insurgents, had a greater effect on the mind of the architect than any consideration as to what the laws of the pure Gothic might demand. Noya was perhaps the most important town in the feudal territory of the fighting archbishops of Santiago, and being a centre of considerable mercantile wealth, she was only too likely to invite attack, which might come either from the sea or the land.