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Germans, Arabs and Vikings
The early middle ages
Ribeira Sacra (Ourense)
Its construction was ordered by San
Rosendo, founder of the monastery and
one of the richest, most powerful men
in Galicia at that time, in honour of
his brother Froila. It is the only element
that stays from the original monastery,
founded in 936 and of which one can
now appreciate the resulting building
from the Baroque remodelling.
It is in this period when another form
of religiosity starts and develops,
linked in this case to death: the cave
necropolises. These are more or
less wide ensembles of sarcophagus
excavated in the stone, many times
making up anthropomorphic tombs,
where the quarry workers signalled
the space for the head and the body.
They appeared in parallel with the large
development of monasticism in this
period, when many monasteries take
their first steps in areas as interesting
as the Ribeira Sacra, which can be
visited from Ourense or Monforte.
It is there where one can find the
two biggest necropolises in Galicia,
the one of San Pedro de Rocas in
Esgos and San Vítor de Barxacova
in Parada de Sil, both located in an
astonishing natural setting, and with
more than a hundred tombs.
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