A virtual visit to the monasteries of Galicia; get to know them in a different way from home.
A virtual visit to the monasteries of Galicia. The geographical situation of Galicia, the end of the Earth to the Renaissance, with its mountains, its valleys, its woods, its rivers and its coastline seduced since ancient times to different people that colonized the whole of its geography and left abundant samples of their spirituality. Later, the discovery of the tomb of the Apostle Santiago drew the main monastic orders that arose in Europe and left their mark in monasteries, churches and other religious buildings that we now put at your fingertips, for you know faithfully our awesome heritage as a nun.
Enjoy the visit.
MOSTEIRO DE SAN MARTIÑO PINARIO:
Monastery of San Martiño Pinario
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Plaza da Inmaculada 5
Santiago de Compostela – A Coruña
The set, of 20,000 square metres, is one of the largest constructions of this kind in Spain and it currently houses the Major Seminary and a establishment. In addition, it has a museum with a permanent exhibition, including the church with altarpieces and choir stalls.
The realization of the church and the monastery are conducted over more than a century, from which begins the church, in 1590, and until the end of one of the cloisters interior, in 1747. We know of the existence of a building-primitive in the same place, of the romanesque temple, and that there are very few remains.
The church of San Martiño Pinario brings together elements of the last renaissance and the baroque. The plant is of a single nave, with side chapels inscribed in a rectangle. The huge central nave is covered with barrel vault with false caissons, and three side chapels with vaults casetonadas. The large dome ribbed, supported on pendentives, provides a feeling air very marked. In the interior stand out the chapels, made for the most part, in the EIGHTEENTH century, as well as the three altarpieces of the same period, to which is added the splendid choir under, the SEVENTEENTH century, where they represent scenes from the life of the Virgin. To the outside, the façade of the Church, which is accessed through a beautiful baroque staircase, is structured in three bodies vertical to correspond with the internal division of the temple, and depicting a profusion of decorative absent in the rest of the walls. It is covered with a multitude of figures of saints and crowned, at the top, with the scene of San Martiño.
The Monastery itself consists of two cloisters: the Office and the Goal, made in the EIGHTEENTH century. To the exterior, highlights the main facade; it Is composed of three bodies: the front and two lateral towers of square plant. The main door is framed by four large doric columns, and above it, a niche containing the image of St. Benedictine. On the cornijón, four pinnacles and the comb with a royal coat of arms and crown quiet. Finishing off the set, a sculptural group of San Martiño from the mantle with a poor man.
Find out here: Monastery of San Martiño Pinario
SAN PEDRO OF ROCKS
San Pedro of Rocks
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San Pedro of Rocks
Esgos – Ourense
In this monastery, only to be excavated in the natural rock, you will not find light structures gothic nor harmonious proportions of the renaissance period. It is a place of ancient, crude, almost primitive, to be a witness of the first settlements hermits in these lands. The value of San Pedro de Roca is anthropological rather than aesthetic.
The presence of the first occupants of this place dates back to the year 573. According to the inscriptions on the gravestone of the founding, which is conserved in the Provincial Archaeological Museum, its founders were seven men who chose this beautiful location to retire to a life of prayer. Later, already in the NINTH century, the knight Gemodus rediscovered the place in a day of hunting and is set in him, being chosen abbot by his peers. In later centuries, this monastery, neither too rich nor too inhabited, depended on the Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil and San Salvador de Celanova. In 1923 it was declared a Historic-Artistic Monument.
The church of the monastery of the sixth century, is one of the christian temples that are older than you know. Its three naves are carved into the rock. The ceiling of the central nave has an opening through which light coming from the outside. A pilaster takes the place of the altar. In the wall of the chapel on the left, it opens a hole in which it is supposed was the grave of the knight Gemodus. In it he discovered a mural painting, dating from between 1175 and 1200, which displays images of the apostles and a map of the world.
We can also see a few graves carved in the figures represent yacientes. On the floor of the church and the atrium is carved into the rock many tombs. The bell tower is located at the top of a huge rock formation almost 20 m high, which gives name to this place.
An arc serves as access to a small space, used until recently as a parish cemetery. It is quadrangular in shape and is enclosed by a wall. From this point there is a path down the slope of the mountain and reaches the Source of San Bieito, also excavated in the rock.
Find out here: San Pedro of Rocks
SAN SALVADOR DE CELANOVA
San Salvador de Celanova
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Plaza Mayor
Celanova – Ourense
Styles
Renaissance
Baroque
Romanesque
Religious Order
Benedictine
Find out here: San Salvador de Celanova
SANTA MARÍA DE FERREIRA
Santa María de Ferreira
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Vila do Mato
Panton – Lugo
The cloister Monastery of the Mother Bernardine, first a benedictine, then cistercian, always reserved to women, has the peculiarity of being the only one in the whole of Galicia, which retained its function since its creation until the present.
This architectural ensemble was built in several stages over a period of five centuries. The romanesque church is dated in the TWELFTH century. The cloister is a work of the FIFTEENTH century. The rest of the spaces were built in the EIGHTEENTH century.
It is surrounded by a solid wall. On the access door to the enclosure, flanqueda by two buttresses by way of pillars, we see the coat of arms of the Cistercian Order in Castile. The monastery, a two-story building made in stones of granite, has a cloister of two bodies, with arches supported on capitals alcarreños. This space houses the tomb of the countess doña Fronilde, abbess of the monastery during its period of greatest splendour in the XII century.
The church is located at a right angle to the facade of the monastery. It is silver-rectangular shape, with a single nave and a semicircular apse. Among the figures that are saved in its interior a sculpture in polychrome wood of the Virgin with the Child. We can also see the tombs of don Diego de Lemos, leader of the revolts irmandiñas, and his son.
Find out here: Santa María de Ferreira
SANTA MARIA DE OSEIRA
Santa Maria de Oseira
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Oseira
San Cristovo de Cea – Ourense
Styles
Baroque
Romanesque
Religious Order
Cistercian
Find out here: Santa Maria de Oseira
Tags: coronavirus, Cov-19, Galicia, monasteries, tourism, virtual tour
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