Now known as the Chapel of Our Lady of Livração, the ancient Church of Saint Martin of Fandinhães stands as a veritable enigma. As visitors approach the building, they see what appears to be a church in ruins. Tradition narrates its dismantling and the documentation does not contradict it, but refers the possibility of being an unfinished structure, ie, today we see it as it would have been in the 13th century.
Here several Romanesque influences intersect. The figures standing against sheets protruding in the portal can also be found in the Churches of Travanca (Amarante) and of Abragão (Penafiel). In the churchyard, it is possible to see traces of a cornice on little arches, a common motif of the Romanesque in the basin of the river Sousa, who came to the latter via Coimbra. The dihedral logs in the crevices show the influence of city of Porto, from the French region of Limousin. The beak-heads [animal heads with a prominent beak] on the south side crevice remind us of the influence of the Benedictine Romanesque on the Braga-Rates axis.
While most corbels feature geometric motifs, one of them presents an exhibitionist, male figure depicted naked and with his right hand on the genitals, a motif also found in the Church of Tarouquela (Cinfães).
In the churchyard, two burial covers: one with the depiction of a sword and another with an inscribed cross.
Location: Marco de Canaveses
