Virtual visit to the monasteries of Galicia; Get to know them in a different way from home.
Virtual visit to the monasteries of Galicia. The geographical situation of Galicia, the end of the Earth until the Renaissance, with its mountains, its valleys, its forests, its rivers and its coast have seduced various inhabitants since ancient times who colonized its entire geography and left abundant samples of its spirituality. Later, the discovery of the tomb of the Apostle Santiago attracted the main monastic orders that arose in Europe and left their mark on monasteries, churches and other religious buildings that we now put at your fingertips, so that you can get to know our impressive monastic heritage faithfully.
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 meters, is one of the largest buildings of this kind in Spain and currently houses the Major Seminary and a hotel establishment. In addition, it has a museum with permanent exhibition, including the church with altarpieces and the choir stalls.
The realization of the church and the monastery take place over more than a century, from the beginning of the church in 1590 until the completion of one of the interior cloisters in 1747. It is known that a primitive building in the same place, of Romanesque invoice, and of which there are hardly any remains.
The church of San Martiño Pinario gathers elements from the last Renaissance and the Baroque. The plant is of a single ship, with lateral chapels inscribed in a rectangle. The immense central nave is covered with a barrel vault with false casetones, and the three lateral chapels with casetoned vaults. The large ribbed dome, supported by pendentives, provides a very marked aerial sensation. Inside the chapels stand out, most of them built in the 18th century, as well as the three altarpieces, from the same period, to which is added the splendid lower choir, from the 17th century, where scenes from life are represented of the Virgin. Outside, the facade of the Church, which is accessed through some very beautiful Baroque stairs, is structured in three vertical bodies that correspond to the internal division of the temple, and that represent a decorative profusion absent in the rest of the walls. . It is covered with a multitude of figures of saints and is crowned, at the top, with the scene of San Martiño.
The Monastery itself is made up of two cloisters: that of the Offices and that of the Portería, built in the 18th century. Outside, its main façade stands out; It consists of three bodies: the front and two square towers on the sides. The main door is framed by four large Doric columns and above it, a niche bearing the image of Saint Benedictine. On the cornijón, four pinnacles and the comb with a royal shield and silent crown. Finishing the set, a sculptural group from San Martiño splitting the cape with a poor man.
Discover it here: Monastery of San Martiño Pinario
SAN PEDRO DE ROCAS
San Pedro de Rocas
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San Pedro de Rocas
Esgos – Ourense
In this monastery, unique for being carved out of natural rock, we will not find light Gothic structures or harmonious Renaissance proportions. It is an ancient, rough, almost primitive enclosure, witness to the first hermit settlements 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 573. According to the inscriptions on the founding tablet, preserved in the Provincial Archaeological Museum, its founders were seven men who chose this beautiful enclave to retire to a life of prayer. Later, as early as the 9th century, the gentleman Gemodus rediscovered the place on a hunting day and settled there, being elected abbot by his companions. In the following centuries, this monastery, never too rich nor very inhabited, became dependent on that of Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil and that of San Salvador de Celanova. In 1923 it was declared a Historic-Artistic Monument.
The 6th century monastery church is one of the oldest known Christian temples. Its three ships are carved out of the rock. The ceiling of the central nave presents an opening through which light enters from the outside. A pilaster serves as an altar. In the wall of the chapel on the left, a hole opens in which the tomb of the knight Gemodus is supposed to have been. In it was discovered a fresco mural painting, dated between 1175 and 1200, showing images of the apostles and a world map.
We can also see some sculpted tombs in which lying figures are represented. Numerous graves are carved out of the church floor and atrium. The bell tower is located on top of a huge rock formation almost 20 m high that gives its name to this place.
An arch serves as access to a small space, used until recently as a parish cemetery. It is quadrangular in shape and is closed by a wall. From this point a path goes down the slope of the mountain and reaches the Fuente de San Bieito, also carved out of the rock.
Discover it here: San Pedro de Rocas
SAN SALVADOR DE CELANOVA
San Salvador de Celanova
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Main Square
Celanova – Ourense
Styles
Renaissance
Baroque
Romanesque
Religious order
Benedictines
Discover it here: San Salvador de Celanova
SANTA MARÍA DE FERREIRA
Santa María de Ferreira
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To Vila do Mato
Pantón – Lugo
The closing Monastery of the Bernardas Mothers, first Benedictine, then Cistercian, always reserved for women, has the peculiarity of being the only one in all of Galicia that preserved its function from its creation to the present.
This architectural ensemble was built in various stages over five centuries. The Romanesque church is dated in the 12th century. The cloister is a work of the XV century. The rest of the spaces were built in the 18th century.
It is surrounded by a solid wall. Above the access door to the enclosure, flanked by two buttresses as pillars, we see the shield of the Order of the Císter de Castilla. The monastery, a two-story building made of granite ashlars, has a two-body cloister, with semicircular arches supported by Alcarreño capitals. This space houses the tomb of the Countess Doña Fronilde, abbess of the monastery during her most splendid time in the 12th century.
The church is located at a right angle to the facade of the monastery. It is rectangular silver, with a single nave and a semicircular apse. Among the figures kept inside it stands out a polychrome wooden sculpture of the Virgin with the Child. We will also be able to see the tombs of Don Diego de Lemos, leader of the Irmandiñas revolts, and his son.
Discover it here: Santa María de Ferreira
SANTA MARÍA DE OSEIRA
Santa Maria de Oseira
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Oseira
San Cristovo de Cea – Ourense
Styles
Baroque
Romanesque
Religious order
Cistercians
Find out here: Santa María de Oseira
Tags: coronavirus, Cov-19, Galicia, monasteries, tourism, virtual visit
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