Muros in the Costa da Morte No. 1 (Coruña)

Described and illustrated in Atienza (1985): holy-water stoup the interior of which has a coiled snake in very deep relief. Atienza -a writer who specialises in the occult, etc.- comments on the added symbolism of the serpent as a keeper of secrets and suggests that it is a symbol of knowledge added to faith; be that as it may, it is a very rare, if not unique, case of a baptismal or holy-water vessel in which the serpent is depicted on the inside of the well, although there are several cases of other animals, usually, but not exclusively, fish. The stoup consists of a roughly hemispherical basin moulded on the outside; the inner well is very shallow and has a large snake coiled with the head at the centre; it is raised on a round pedestal base of baluster shape, with a tiny square lower base; the basin is cemented to one of the pillars of the nave. This stoup is not mentioned in Castillo López' inventory published in 1972/1987. A number of illustrations of this stoup and its details, as well as some references that have noted the peculiar presence of the snake here and some possible explanations can be found in an entry for this object in Felipe Perea's Otra Iberia [https://otraiberia.es/serpiente-pila-muros/] [accessed 2 September 2021]; Perea refers to it as "una antigua Pila benditera Románica"; Perea cites Juan G. Atienza [cf. supra] and his Segunda Guía de la España Mágica. [NB: another serpent vessel is reported in this area, quite nearby, in the village of Noya / Noia, but in the latter case the serpent is coiled on the outside -- cf. Index entry for Noya No. 2]