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From Gallaecia to the Euro-Region
1. São Domingos cathedral (Vila Real) / 2,3. San Francisco de Ourense (Ourense)
period. It is also worthy to move to
Noia, 30 kilometres west of Santiago,
in order to visit the churches of San
Martiño and Santa María a Nova.
In Pontevedra there is Santa María
a Maior, defrayed by the most
influent guild of the city, the fishermen.
Although the Renaissance influence
already starts to be clear, especially
in its façade (it was not in vain that
its construction started in the 16th
century), the architectural ensemble is
still heir to the Gothic tradition.
Far from the littoral, 15 kilometres far
from Verín, there is a rural church of
this same style: Retorta, in Laza. Very
close, in the first walled enclosure of
Monterrei, and at the foot of the tower,
there is the church of Santa María
de Gracia.
In Portugal, the new style had an
important diffusion, with very
interesting examples. Among them, the
igreja matriz, currently cathedral, of
Viana do Castelo, built between 1400
and 1433, with a three-naves structure
and a very ornamented façade, framed
by two towers. Another example is the
church of the monastery of Leça
do Balio in Matosinhos, heir to a
former congregation of Visigothic
roots. Rebuilt in the decade of 1330,
it constitutes and interesting example of
fortified religious architecture, whose
crenelated tower of Romanesque
tradition is not unaware of its belonging
to the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem,
community to which it was handed over
at the beginning of the 12th century by
Dona Teresa, and which had its first
home here in Portugal.
The urban centres of Barcelos and
Guimarães stand out, together with
some important remodelling works in
the city of Porto.
In the case of Barcelos, the tour can
begin in the collegiate church. It is
a construction from the 13th century
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