Architecture and Legends: the crows of the Vera Cruz in Segovia

An old legend, very popular in the stately Segovia, tells that, at the doors of this incredible Romanesque church, with a dodecagonal floor plan, central aedicule, triple apse and enormous defensive tower, a Templar knight died while defending it from the assault of a group of Muslim warriors who were harassing and attacking the city.

When the battle ended and the body of the warrior-monk was collected by his brothers and displayed on the altar of the central aedicule - the nerve center of the church - where the knights had the custom of keeping watch in homage to the Gothic Christ and the venerated stone image of the Virgin of Peace, they left him alone for a few hours and when they returned, they discovered, with horror, that the crows had feasted on him, eating his eyes.

They say that, faced with such a cruel sacrilege, the Grand Master of the Order launched a curse so terrible that, even today, numerous species of birds can be seen evolving and nesting in the wings and recesses, especially the swift swallows, but not a crow has ever been seen again, not even flying around.

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