Gibraleon / Gibraleón

Illustrated in Carrasco Terriza et al. (2006), who note that the font was already documented in the visitation records of 1682; said to have originated in a palace where it served as water fountain; the large cylindrical basin of red marble has shields charged with an emblem of a horshoe; between the shields are a number of less prominent motifs and symbols: a fortress, a roundel, a motif resembling a bundle of nails that one source identifies as the "yugo y las flechas", the symbol of the Catholic Kings Isabel and Ferdinand; there is a metal reinforcement band around the basin, just below the rim; it is now raised on short stone legs that are probably unrelated. The interior of the basin appears to have been re-tooled or re-cut. [NB: the nearby Iglesia de Santiago goes back at least to the 14th century, according to Carrasco Terriza et al. (2006), but its font is late-18th century]. The font is described and illustrated in the Spanish Wikipedia entry for this church [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iglesia_de_San_Juan_Bautista_(Gibraleón)] [accessed 7 September 2025]: "es de destacar la decoración que presenta la pila bautismal que se encuentra en la capilla bautismal la cual presenta relieves de diferentes motivos: el pez, el yugo y las flechas en haz (símbolo de los Reyes Católicos), la flor de lis, una herradura, media luna y la silueta de un castillo. La parte superior está ceñida por una faja de hierro, que en origen sellaba la pila. Se cubre con una tapa forrada de tela que la preserva del deterioro; dicha tapa, encaja en el labio de la pila y permite el cierre bajo llave en el aro de hierro con que está ceñida. El interior de la tapa se mandó pintar en 1688 al óleo o sobre lienzo para protegerla de la humedad." A digital photograph of the font taken 27 February 2007 by Unknown1927 may be seen in Wikimedia [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pila_bautismal_gibraleon.jpg] [accessed 7 September 2025].