We had enjoyed the day around Chantada and so decided to take another day exploring the Romanesque Churches near Monforte de Lemos.
Monastery of San Salvador de Ferreira
The Cistercian monastery was set up as a ‘double monastery’, i.e. it had both monks and nuns. Apparently this was quite common in Spain between the 7th and 9th centuries, but changed thereafter. The Monastery of San Milan was another example. Today the monastery is inhabited by nuns. A small nun took our money, showed us where to go, and sold us biscuits. Her eyes were deep, and dark, and glowed, just like this of the young nun I had seen in Lerma. It is something which will stay with me.
The 12th century Romanesque Church was open on this visit. It is beautiful, of course. Dark, silent (no canned music), and in many ways very demanding.
San Miguel de Eire
The Church of San Miguel de Eire “belonged to an old Benedictine monastery founded by Escladia Ordoñez in the 12th century, which lost its independence in 1507 with the reform ordered by the Catholic Monarchs in the Galician monasteries.”1
San Martiño de A Cova
This was an Augustinian Monastery of regular canons, again suppressed during the Mendizabal era. The setting is spectacular – perched on a very steep hillside and overlooking the gorges of the Minho River.
The cemetery is neat and well-ordered, but round the back of the church is a single, fenced-off grave; it is rather sad.
St Fiz de Cangas
St Fix de Cangas was once an establishment of Benedictine nuns who were forced out by the Mendizabal changes in the 1830s. There are apparently still murals inside the church, which was locked tightly.
The church is very isolated, surrounded by fields and farmland – the church actually stands in a farm yard.
Santa Maria de Proendos
The church dates from the second half of the 13th century and was refurbished in the 18th century. Apparently there are still some wall paintings.
The earliest mention of Roman remains near to the church was in the 1860s.2
We had two days of hard work – exploring Romanesque Churches around Monforte de Lemos. It was perhaps unnecessarily difficult because the tourist map is inadequate – we should have known, and should have brought a large-scale map. But it was also enjoyable and clearly one could spend a great deal more time on such a project….
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