Basílica de Santa Lucía del Trampal

Basílica de Santa Lucía del Trampal - Wikimedia Commons / Puertomenesteo

In recent years, some lesser-known routes, such as the Camiño do Mar, have been gaining in popularity. While this is great news, we must not forget the older routes, such as the Silver Route, which starts in Seville and passes through regions such as Extremadura, offering us the chance to find such unusual monuments as the Basilica of Santa Lucía del Trampal, in Cáceres.

A unique basilica in the middle of the Silver Route

Rediscovered in 1981, this is the only Visigothic construction still standing in the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula. However, due to its peculiar architectural characteristics, the possibility is being studied that it may also have Mozarabic influence, which is why it is dated between the 7th and 8th centuries.

The Basilica of Santa Lucía del Trampal is in the municipality of Alcuéscar, some 50 kilometres from the city of Cáceres. And although it may seem a little out of the way, the reality is that it is just a few kilometres from the Vía de la Plata, the famous Roman road that runs through the Peninsula from south to north and has been used for centuries as a pilgrimage route.

In its construction, materials from other older buildings were used, specifically from Roman and pre-Roman times, which adds incredible historical and cultural value to it. Moreover, its structure is believed to be a mixture of the different types of churches that were built in the transition period, and some of its elements served as inspiration for Asturian art.

Although we can only find this building on the site now, there were previously other churches around it, most notably the church of Santiago. 

Undoubtedly, the Basilica of Santa Lucía del Trampal, due to its architectural peculiarities and the difficulty of finding similar constructions in the south of the Peninsula, is a must for all those pilgrims who pass through the community of Extremadura.