rUrAL LUGO - Ruta Vilas Amuralladas

MONUMENTAL
LUGO
rural
lugo
In order to understand the wall and Lugo’s Roman past,
the traveller can visit the Wall Interpretation Centre located in Praza do Campo (Market Square), where they can
also obtain a special and extensive booklet in which the
wall and other monuments and archaeological remains
from that time are explained. But there is even more to
Lugo than this.
THE CITY THAT RE-EMERGED
IN THE MIDDLE AGES
MONUMENTAL LUGO
A MODERN CITY WITHIN
ROMAN WALLS
The heart of Lugo, the ancient Lucus Augusti, is surrounded
by a Roman wall that is more than two kilometres in circumference. Whoever visits the beautiful medieval walls that are
preserved in many European cities will be amazed by the
enormity of this unique monument.
This impressive urban fortress, one of the largest in the Hispania of its time, is today the only one whose perimeter is
completely preserved in the three continents throughout
which the territory of the Roman Empire extended.
For this reason, on 30th November, 2000, UNESCO took the
decision to register Lugo’s wall within the list of monuments
declared WORLD HERITAGE SITES.
But this is not the only important evidence of the Roman
presence in Lugo. The remains of the Roman baths, the
foundations of Ponte Vella (Old Bridge), and especially the
late-Roman temple of Bóveda, located 14 kilometres from
the city, are simple features which traditionally merited
the attention of the curious traveller. In recent decades,
continuous archaeological excavations have revealed many
other remains of great interest which today can be viewed
through various open air archaeological viewing points, or
in small museums which exhibit the most important finds in
situ: the noble domus known as the Mosaics House, some
tombs and a cultic fountain in the St. Roque Archaeological
Centre, and an exceptionally well-preserved temple of Mithra
that is attached to another house, which in Lugo we call the
Domus do Mitreo (the Mithraeum Domus).
At the beginning of the 5th century, the Galician kingdom of
the Swabes was founded in the lands of Roman Gallaecia.
This was the first political entity built upon the ruins of
the Roman Empire in Western Europe. But Swabian
Galicia was characterised as a society that was rural in
nature, in which cities lost almost all their functions,
except their new one as episcopal sees which came with
Christianisation. Lugo was one of these, but even then the
city was reduced to the size of a village surrounded by an
enormous wall. Its few inhabitants, clerics and peasants,
undoubtedly dwelt around the ancient Cathedral, and the
greater part of the 35 hectares within the wall of the city
were ruins or farmland.
Lugo remained in this situation for more than half a millennium,
until it began to rise slowly in the 11th century. In 1129, construction began on a new, large-scale cathedral. Close by lay,
and continued to grow, an area that is today called Burgo Vello
(Old Town), which is now made up of Praza do Campo, Barrio
do Miño (Miño Quarter), and A Tinería (Tinería Quarter). These
new houses spread along what we still know today as Rúa Nova,
a street which runs from Praza do Campo towards what we also
call today the wall’s Porta Nova or New Gate, because it was
probably walled over and opened once again at that time in order to restore the exit leading to Corunna. The so-called Burgo
Novo (New Town) was also built, and lay where Campo do Castelo (Castle Grounds) and Rúa de San Pedro can be found today,
leading towards another of the ancient gates of the Roman city,
which formed an exit in the direction of Castile.
In the final centuries of the Middle Ages and in the first centuries of the Modern era, the city went through several different
changes, although its topography varied little: it continued to
be very rural, with gardens and crops grown within the walls;
and a population which, towards the end of the 16th century,
would reach around 2,000 inhabitants.
1
THE MODERN CITY
In 1754, a major event took place: the establishment of St.
Froilán’s Fair, which contributed to Lugo becoming Galicia’s
great agricultural capital. In little less than fifty years the population doubled, and in 1826 would reach 7,209 inhabitants.
After the Mendizábal disentailments, or selling of church
lands by the Liberal government from 1835-1837, a radical
reform and modernisation of the city took place. Two of the
first actions taken were the expansion of Praza Maior (Main
Square) in front of the Casa do Concello (Town Hall) and the
opening of Praza de Santo Domingo (St. Domingo’s Square),
both of these squares lying on lands which were obtained
after the nationalisation of two convents. In 1875, the railway
came to Lugo, and would strengthen the role of the city as an
agrarian capital, and building had already begun in the characteristic eighteenth-century and early nineteenth-century
streets: Raíña, Progreso, Teatro and San Marcos.
In the 20th century, urban development accelerated and
Lugo, which had had small neighbourhoods outside the
city walls since the earliest times, grew first and above all
towards the north and then in all directions until becoming
the small but great city that it is today. The immense majority
of its almost 100,000 inhabitants live outside the walls. But
the walled, encircled area continues to be a monumental,
Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neo-classical
Lugo, with a strong presence of eighteenth-century styles in
the streets dating from the Liberal period. It is also a vigorous
and vibrant centre, perhaps because of the great definition
which the wall itself provides, with considerable and diverse
trade and splendid hotels and restaurants. A city in which to
stroll leisurely, enjoy the urban landscape in general and stop
to admire the singular buildings in all their styles.
/1/ /2/ /3/
MONUMENTAL LUGO
PAZO DO CONCELLO AND PRAZA
MAIOR. O CAMPO DO CASTELO
The Pazo do Concello (Town Hall), located at one end of Praza
Maior (Main Square), is one of the most interesting works of
the Galician Civil Baroque period. It was designed by Lucas
Ferro Caaveiro, one of the finest Galician architects of the
time, and erected in 1738, with the purpose of substituting
the previous town hal building which was constructed in 1573
on the same site. It consists of two floors, the first of which
has pillars defined by ten robust round arches, eight frontal
and two lateral; the second has two large balconies resting
on attractive corbels. The facade is symmetrically divided by
a central pilaster which serves as visual support for the great
royal coat of arms which covers it. At each of its ends it has
individual small towers, and beneath these, forming the corners, lies the city’s coat of arms, all in very finely fashioned
masonry. The clocktower, a work by the architect Nemesio
Cobreros, is from 1874.
The Praza Maior reached its current size in the 19th century,
following the Liberal disentailments of church lands which enlargened the old square, which in different periods was called
Campo, Foro, Cortiñas de San Román, Feira Vella, or simply
Cortiñas, with lands which were occupied by the convent of
the Order of Augustinian Recollects. With the waning of the
bishop’s power, the new square underscored the governing
role of the town hall in the Liberal period, and today continues to be the symbolic centre of the city. In spite of its size,
its character is intimate and familiar which was best portrayed
by Luís Pimentel (1895-1958) when he called it “my town’s visiting room”. Amongst its buildings stand out the Círculo das
Artes (Arts Club), a work by Luís Bellido and inaugurated in
1898, the old San Lourenzo Seminary (currently a Franciscan
school), and the noble houses with pillars, which are Baroque
and of the characteristic styles of the 19th century. Furthermore, there is the bandstand constructed in 1888, and the
bronze monument to Luís Pimentel, Lugo’s great poet, which
is a work by Otero Besteiro. On the same side or corner of the
pillars stands out a quite decontextualised building, although
it is worthy of merit itself, and was constructed in 1944 by the
famous architect Eloi Maquieira.
Adjacent to Praza Maior, Campo do Castelo (Castle Grounds),
took its name from a medieval castle integrated into the Roman wall itself, and which was substituted around 1756 by
another building which acted as an ecclesiastical prison and
from which very modified remains are preserved. Between
this square and the adjacent Praza Anxo Fernández Gómez,
a bronze statue by Ramón Conde and dedicated to the writer
Ánxel Fole (1903-1986), one of the finest narrators in the Galician language, can be seen. In this space, in addition to the
typical old houses, some with their backs resting against the
wall, stands out a corner building from 1900 with round galleries in the Neo-Mudéjar style, designed by Juan Álvarez de Mendoza, and two very different works by Eloi Maquieira: one in an
eclectic style, behind the statue of Ánxel Fole and constructed
where the house in which the writer was born was located,
and another adjoining building in the strictly Rationalist style.
entrance most in use; and at the end of the same century, the
powerful clock tower was completed upon two medieval sections. In different periods other works and additions were carried out, amongst these the cloister, begun by Friar Gabriel das
Casas and completed by Casas Nóvoa at the beginning of the
18th century. Finally, and on the premise that the collapse of the
old Romanesque facade was imminent, it was demolised in order to construct the present one, which was begun around 1769
with Neo-classical features by Julián Sánchez Bort. The towers
which flank it were completed just before the end of the 19th
century under the supervision of Nemesio Cobreros.
/4/
CATHEDRAL
- The Baroque chapel of Our Lady of the Large Eyes, with a medieval image in alabaster of Saint Mary, the first patron saint of
the city, of whom Alfonso X sang in one of his Cantigas.
The master architect Raimundo de Monforte began the construction of Lugo Cathedral in 1129, and completed it in the purest Romanesque style, with a ground plan in the shape of a Latin
cross, three naves and three apses at one end. Yet already by the
beginnings of the 14th century the old front was knocked down
in order to make room for a chancel and an ambulatory with five
new apse chapels in the Gothic style and a hexagonal floor plan.
In the 18th century the central apse chapel gave way to another
larger one, that of Our Lady of the Large Eyes, a masterly work by
the great Baroque architect Fernando de Casas Nóvoa, also the
creator of the Praza do Obradoiro facade of Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. At the beginning of the 16th century a shelter
was constructed for the northern Romanesque porch, today the
4
The cathedral requires a leisurely visit. Points of great interest are:
- The northern porch with its Christ Pantocrator, a masterwork of Romanesque sculpture, and its door adorned with
original ironwork.
- The Chancel, modified between 1762 and 1768 in order to
highlight the Blessed Sacrament in permanent exhibition. The
paintings of the vault, recently restored, are the work of the
Astorga painter, José de Terán.
- Renaissance altarpiece (1534) by Cornelius of Holland, today
displayed at the front of the transept.
- Choirstalls, completed in 1624 by the great sculptor, Francisco de Moure.
- The commanding view of the building from the triforium.
/5/
BISHOP’S PALACE AND
PRAZA DE SANTA MARÍA
The Bishop’s palace, in the Baroque style and with a certain air of
a Galician rural manor house, is located in front of the Cathedral,
and therefore defines Praza de Santa María. The main entrance
is dominated by the coat of arms of Bishop Caetano Xil Taboada,
during whose papacy the work was completed in 1743.
In the same grounds there used to be a palace from the late
Gothic period, whose construction, upon the site of the old
episcopal houses, was ordered in 1478 by bishop Afonso
Henríquez de Lemos. Some parts of it were incorporated
into the new stonework; one of them is the section with a
5
The stonework facades of the houses on both sides of the Praza do Campo rest against strong arches which form protective
arcades. One of them now belongs to the Tourist Information
and Wall Interpretation Centre of Lugo City Council.
balcony or machicolation which emerges from the building
in its central part.
In Praza de Santa María, an ideal venue for concerts, a small
Roman bathing pool with remains of its mosaic pavement can
be seen, and is today protected by a large viewing window.
6
Some interesting streets, which are medieval in origin, lead off
from Praza do Campo. One of them is the long and straight
Rúa Nova, which was the busiest in the city until Lugo began
to expand beyond its own walls. In Rúa do Miño, the centre
of the neighbourhood of the same name, Baroque buildings
visually predominate, but this street still retains some houses
from the Middle Ages. First the Pazo das Pombas (the Doves
House) can be seen, between Baroque and Neo-Classical in
style, and in front of the Porta Miñá the Baroque of Orbán or
Sangro, today a hotel and classified historical monument. In
Rúa da Cruz is another Baroque mansion, which belonged to
the alderman, Osorio, and in Praciña da Universidade, Saavedra’s house and the Vice-Chancellor’s building.
/8/
ST. PETER’S CHURCH
Located in Praza da Soidade, and adjacent to Lugo County
Museum, this church belonged to the former Franciscan
convent. Tradition maintains that Saint Francis founded his
convent in Lugo during the pilgrimage he made to Santiago
de Compostela in 1214. Whether this is true or not, by 1230
there seems to be evidence of the presence of Franciscans
in the city.
/6/ /7/
PRAZA DO CAMPO
and BARRIO DO MIÑO
Praza do Campo is a large triangular square near the Cathedral. In the early Middle Ages it acted as a commercial centre
for the city, and retains its character well, although over the
passage of time its buildings have been renovated. Its current
appearance is the result of an early medieval arrangement,
although this is also strongly imbued with the dominant Baroque style of the houses, which were constructed for the
most part by rich merchants during the second half of the
18th century. In the centre there is a fountain watched over
by the statue of Saint Vicente Ferrer, which was completed in
1754 and funded by Bishop Izquierdo, who built a new water
supply for the city, taking advantage to some degree of the
old Roman aquaduct.
In addition to the church, the buildings of the convent that are
preserved are the kitchen, the refectory and the cloister, currently housed within the Lugo County Museum. The suite of buildings was declared an Historical Artistic Monument in 1931.
The conventual church is a very well-preserved gem of the
Mendicant Gothic style. It has a Latin cross floor plan, with
a single narrow and long nave, which is accessed through a
beautiful doorway with triple-pointed archivolt, and crowned
by a large window with two mullions.
The main nave as well as that of the transept are covered
in wood upon high-pointed arches. The front is composed
of three polygonal apses covered by fan vaulting. Very high,
double-pointed windows and with mullions, four in the central apse and three in each of the lateral, work in tandem
with the broad, south-facing rose window in illuminating the
church, whose light filtered by the polychromatic windows is
a sight to behold.
9
/10/
LUGO COUNTY
COUNCIL BUILDING
AND RÚA DE SAN MARCOS
The Pazo da Deputación or County Council Building occupies almost a whole side of Rúa de San Marcos; the other
is formed almost entirely by harmonious houses from the
end of the 19th century, with their characteristic wood and
glass galleries.
/9/
ST. DOMINGOS’ CHURCH
AND PRAZA DE SANTO DOMINGO
Located in Praza de Santo Domingo and today adjacent to
the convent occupied by the Augustine nuns, this church
belonged previously to the Dominican convent, according to
documentary evidence from 1274.
In spite of reforms and additions, the church essentially retains its Gothic structure and interior beauty. Its ground plan
is in the shape of a Latin cross, and the front part is made
up of three polygonal apses with rib vaults, with high windows with a trifoliate finish. The central nave and that of the
transept are covered with pointed vaults; the central nave is
crowned with a cupola.
The church’s southern facade, which is the only point of entry, is
housed within a Baroque portico which maintains a high building structure with square windows. It is an extremely beautiful
doorway, with a pointed arch formed upon three pairs of columns and with four brilliantly decorated archivaults.
In the southern lateral apse there is a rich arcosolium which
houses a tomb with the reclining statue “of the very firm, valient and loyal knight, Fernán Días de Ribadeneyra who died
in the year MCCCCX”.
Near the church, in the middle of the square, there is a bronze
imperial eagle, resting upon a column of the Corinthian order, a monument which conmemorates the bimillenium of
Lugo’s foundation. The long Praza de San Domingos, which
was built in the 19th century, became an important commercial centre following the arrival of the railway in Lugo. In it the
rationalist building on the corner of Rúa do Teatro, a work by
Eloi Maquieira (1943), or the stone Historicist house which
is on the corner of Rúa de San Marcos, by Manuel Gómez
Román (1925).
Construction began on the mansion in 1866 as part of a
county hospital, but when it was completed in 1874, it became the headquarters of the County Council (which is still
there) and of the High School. It is an enormous building with
two floors, and a symmetrical frontal structure and three rear
naves, with noble features in good stonework. The back of
the building looks onto the Roman wall and it has a simple
garden in which magnificent magnolia trees thrive, and which
one can access from Praza de Ferrol.
Rúa de San Marcos was recently reformed in order to allow
for a lengthened square, in which fairs and events are sometimes held. An archaeological viewing point with remains of
the Roman aquaduct can also be found there.
/11/ /12/
ST. FROILÁN’S CHURCH
AND PRAZA DE FERROL
Located in Praza de Ferrol, near Porta Falsa (The False Gate),
it was originally a chapel connected to St. Bartolomew’s hospital, which was founded in 1621.
12
In its current form, the church was constructed in 1768, during the time of Bishop Izquierdo. It is covered by a barrel
vault, with a small, central cupola. It has a very characteristic
Baroque pediment, with a coat of arms of the bishop who
ordered it to be built, and is crowned wuth a statue of Saint
Raphael, the healer archangel. The image of Saint Bartholemew watches over the doorway from within a niche, and the
facade is flanked by two small towers.
With the disappearance of the hospital owing to a fire in 1878,
the chapel became shortly afterwards the parish church of
Saint Froilán, the patron saint of the city.
In Praza de Ferrol there is the most monumental of the access stairs to the wall’s parapet, older in origin but built in its
current form in 1888.
A singular building in this square is the old St. Ferdinand’s
Barracks, constructed at the end of the 18th century in a
Neo-classical style and highly austere in ornamental terms.
Today no longer in use, the people of Lugo would like it to be
turned into the great museum of Galicia’s romanisation.
/13/ /14/ /15/ /16/
ST. JAMES “THE NEW” CHURCH,
RÚA DE SAN PEDRO, RÚA DA RAÍÑA
AND RÚA DO PROGRESO
On the corner of Rúa da Raíña and Rúa de San Pedro. A parish
church of Santiago (or St. James) from 1859, it belonged formerly to the disappeared convent of Dominican nuns which
was established there in 1363. At that time its patron was
Saint Mary, and it was called Saint Mary the New in order to
distinguish it from the Cathedral, also dedicated to the Virgin.
The present Baroque church dates from the 18th century,
but the facade was reconstructed in the Neo-classical style at
the beginning of the 20th century.
Following the disentailments, or selling of church lands in the
mid- to late-19th century, the old convent went on to house
different offices and public services, and today only some
architectural remains from it are left, and form part of the
buildings on the new floor where the Local Tax and Post Offices are found.
The side of the church faces Rúa de San Pedro, the principal
thoroughfare of the medieval Burgo Novo (New Town) which
looks towards the wall’s exterior through the St. Peter or
Toledan Gate. Pilgrims who follow the Primitive Way follow
the latter street, towards Santiago de Compostela.
Rúa da Raíña, Lugo’s traditional promenade, was baptised
with this name following the visit by Isabel II to Lugo in 1858.
Its commercial and social vitality mean that today it is a good
showcase of several architectural styles from the 19th and
20th centuries, which sit well together and are highlighted by
its broad, pedestrian-only pavement.
Another characteristic street of the 19th century is Rúa do Progreso,
which runs parallel to Rúa da Raíña and is also pedestrianised.
/BEYOND THE WALL/
/17/
ST. ROQUE’S CHAPEL
This chapel be found in Rúa de San Roque, beside the old
road to Castile, next to the Roman wall, opposite the San
Pedro or Toledan Gate. Its patron saint gave name to the
area which grew up around it. Baroque in style and designed
by Lucas Ferro Caaveiro, its floor plan is in the shape of a
Latin cross and is covered with a barrel-vaulted roof and
a hemispheric cupola in the transept. Built around 1731, at a
later date a front portico was added with a row of balconies
at the upper part.
/18/
CARME’S CHAPEL
In Rúa do Carme, outside the wall and just before the Miñá Gate,
next to the Primitive Way pilgrimage route to Santiago, and Regueiro
dos Hortos, in the neighbourhood where tradition maintains that
St. Froilán, the patron saint of Lugo, was born. It was built towards
the end of the 18th century in the Neo-classical style.
/19/ /20/
SEMINARIES. OLD JAIL
The former San Lourenzo or St. Lawrence’s Seminary was
substituted for another which was constructed outside the walls at
the end of the 19th century, and which was a project by Nemesio
Cobreros, inspired by classical models. Its facade and ground
plan recall, like other seminaries from that time, the Escorial
monastery. It is a large stonework building of three floors, with a
magnificent central stairway which has been recently restored. It
is still a seminary and is located in Rúa Anxo López Pérez.
MONUMENTAL
LUGO
1,5 km
24
11
rural
lugo
P
12
10
P
P
16
9
P
8
29
15
7
18
13
26
14
6
1
30
23
25
5
2
3
28
27
4
31
17
P
1,5 km
19
22
20
21
0,3 km
1 Pazo do Concello (Town Hall)
2P
raza Maior (Main Square)
3C
ampo do Castelo (Castle Grounds)
4C
athedral
5 Bishop’s Palace
6P
raza do Campo (Market Square)
do Miño (Miño Quarter)
7 Barrio
8S
t. Peter Church
9S
t. Domingo’s Church and
Praza de Santo Domingo
10 L
ugo County Council Building
and Rúa de San Marcos
11 St. Froilán’s Church
12 S
t. Ferdinand’s Barracks
13 St. James the New
Church (A Nova)
14 R
úa de San Pedro
15 R
úa da Raíña (Queen Street)
16 Rúa do Progreso
17 S
t. Roque’s Chapel
18 Carme’s Chapel
19 Seminaries (Maior and Menor)
20 Old Jail (Vello Cárcere)
21 Rosalía de Castro Park
19
22 Barrio da Ponte (Bridge Quarter)
23 L
ugo Wall Interpretation Centre
24 Interactive Lugo History
Museum (MIHL)
25 The Miñá Gate Room
26 The Mosaics House
27 S
t. Roque Archaeological Centre
28 Domus do Mitreo
29 Provincial Museum
30 T
he Doves House
(Pazo das Pombas)
31 Diocesan Museum
P Parking
A
ccess stairs to the wall-top walk
A
ccess ramp to the wall-top walk
Wall gate
19
/22/
THE BRIDGE QUARTER
This is located on the right bank of the Miño, after Ponte Vella
(Old Bridge), which is Roman in origin, and on the Primitive
Way section of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.
It is the parish of San Lázaro da Ponte (St. Lawrence of the
Bridge), a name which immediately and directly evokes the
old leper hospital which was located here.
The building that was the Lower Seminary also imitates Classicist models, although in this case Italian or French, and by using cement mouldings, and not stone. It belongs to the council
and is currently used as council offices.
The Old Jail is another distinctive building by Nemesio Cobreros,
now used as a one of the city’s cultural centres.
/21/
ROSALÍA DE CASTRO PARK
Lugo’s park par excellence was built in the 1920s and first took
the name of the monarch on the throne at that time, Alfonso XIII. Following the proclamation of the Second Republic in
1931, it changed its name to Rosalía de Castro, after the great
Galician and universal poet.
The leper hospital defined the structure of this suburban
neighbourhood with its notable stature and Baroque
features; the last hospital, a work from the 18th century,
is today divided into private dwellings, amongst which
includes the rectory. But the origin of the institution is much
older: the first surviving documental references date from
the 12th century.
As well as being a monumental group of buildings, this place
deserves a visit because of the beauty of its landscape.
CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE
Amongst recent buildings, the following are of particular interest:
- The Intercentros Library on the University campus. This is a
work by Santiago Catalán.
21
The park is more than two hectares in size, and replete with
more than a hundred native species of trees and bushes from
all the continents of the world. Its buildings (kiosks, the wisteria
pergola, the lake) are Arte Nouveau in appearance. It originally
lay on the outskirts of Lugo, but the growth of the city, without
swallowing it up, proceeded to surround it with buildings on
three of its four sides; the fourth side is a viewpoint open
upon the Costas do Parque area and the Miño valley.
- The group of buildings made up of the Music Conservatory,
Dance Conservatory and the Official Languages School in
Ronda de Xosé Castiñeira. These buildings were designed by
Pernas-Varela.
- The Lugo Interactive History Museum (MIHL) in Milagrosa
Park, designed by Nieto-Sobejano architects.
/MUSEUMS/
/23/
LUGO WALL
INTERPRETATION CENTRE
Lugo Tourist Office and a journey through Lugo’s time. Praza
do Campo, 11.
24
25
/24/
MUSEO INTERACTIVO
da HISTORIA DE LUGO (MIHL)
A distinctive building which is mostly at basement level, with a
permanent exhibition on the history of Lugo. Milagrosa Park.
/25/
THE MIÑÁ GATE ROOM
(Sala Porta Miñá)
A permanent exhibition on the Roman origins of the city. Rúa
do Carme, in front of Miñá Gate.
26
/26/
THE MOSAICS HOUSE
(Casa dos Mosaicos)
/27/
ST. ROQUE
ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTRE
An in situ musealisation of the remains of a Roman necropolis, a ritual pool and a ceramic oven, with an audiovisual installation. San Roque Gardens, Rúa Emilia Pardo Bazán.
27
/28/
DOMUS DO MITReO
A spectacular in situ musealisation of a Roman domus and
a temple dedicated to the Eastern god, Mithra. Opposte the
Cathedral, next to the Santiago Gate.
/29/
PROVINCIAL MUSEUM
An important archaeological museum with paintings, sculpture
and minor art. It houses the Romanesque cloister, the refectory
and kitchen of the old Franciscan convent. Praza da Soidade.
/30/
THE DOVES HOUSE
(Pazo das Pombas)
A museum which focusses on Romanticism and the bourgeoisie. Rúa do Miño, at one end of Praza do Campo.
/31/
DIOCESAN MUSEUM
Religious art. Located inside the Cathedral.
A museum and audovisual installation located on the architectural and decorative remains of a great Roman domus.
Rúa Doutor Castro.
28
64
ru
Teixeiro
Rubiás
Pías
Mazoi
19
Bocamaos
Torible
Vilachá
de Mera
Santa
María Alta
5
6
7
3
Poutomillos
Monte
de Meda
San Mamede
dos Anxos
Santo André
Cuíña de Castro
Calde
Esperante
17
Santa
Comba
Ch
am
oso
18
O Corgo
Ma
dri
O CORGO
San Martiño
de Piñeiro
e
ns
re
Río
Ribas
de Miño
San Xoán
do Campo
tia
n
Sa
Coeses
Santa Marta
de Fixós
Bazar
0
Ou
go
Coeo
San Xoán
de Pena
Recimil
Soñar
Lamas
54
Guntín
de Pallares
A Fonsagrada
Piúgos
16
N-
Santa María
de Bóveda
10
Saa
GUNTÍN
Romeán
8
9
1
Bacurín
Carballido
12
2
O Burgo
Gondar
Bascuas
LUGO
San Xoán
do Alto
era
Río M
San Pedro
de Mera
13
Orzabai
CASTROVERDE
ira
San Salvador
de Muxa
Meilán
15
O Veral
Santalla
de Bóveda
11 Prógalo
4
Adai
Pedreda
14
rvedo
Río R
o
Ombreiro
Río Fe
A6
Outeiro
das Camoiras
Labio
Muxa
Camoira
meán
Tirimol
FRIOL
POL
Benade
I
N-V
RÍO MIÑO
CASTRO
DE REI
N-
ña
A-6
NVI
OUTEIRO
DE REI
Co
0
A
Outeiro
de Rei
San Román
d
Traditional architecture has two basic construction materials,
according to the geological substratum of different parishes:
along the Miño’s central course, flagstones; to the east and
west, granite or masonry. The roofs are always flagstones:
tiles do not exist in traditional buildings.
Within Lugo council district several geographical sections
can be identified. One of the most characteristic is the Mera
Valley, a land of stonework with a greatly-renowned style of
popular architecture and rural and mountainous landscapes
of great beauty. The north-south axis defined by the valley
beside the Miño also forms a clearly unified whole, with spectacular riverside woods made up fundamentally of alders,
birches, willows and oaks. The River Miño flows gently and
deep because of the dykes, great traditional weirs for eel fishing, formerly an important source of wealth in the area, and
which today fulfil a regulatory function, ensuring that low water levels are hardly recorded.
RÍO MIÑO
RURAL LUGO
LUGO COUNTY
332 km2 in size, Lugo is the third largest council district in
Galicia after Fonsagrada and Vilalba. Its axis is the River Miño,
which runs from north to south, and a dense system of tributaries and sub-tributaries which run through its almost seventy rural parishes. The most important are the Mera on the
right-hand side and Rato or Fervedoira on the left-hand side,
which flow into the Miño not far from the city (the former upstream and the latter downstream.) The city of Lugo is a great
referential centre for the “Terras do Miño” (“Miño Lands”) Biosphere Reserve, which basically follows the upper course of
Galicia’s largest river.
The council has in general a very gentle relief which is easy to
walk over. The highest point is Outeiro Maior, which lies 725m
above sea level, and the lowest, naturally by the banks of the
Miño, lies at some 355m from the border with Guntín county.
In spite of this, the terrain in the Lugo area is notably variable,
and the very structure of parish population and settlements
is quite different from one part to another. In general it is a
matter of more or less dispersed villages, with farm houses
which are highly individualised within their own surroundings,
although attractive villages which are closely grouped together can also be found; for example, in the Terras do Mera area.
THE PRIMITIVE WAY
A great traditional walking route, the Primitive Way to Santiago
crosses Lugo council from east to west, from Gondar parish to
that of San Pedro de Mera, and runs along the city’s medieval axis.
Before the displacement towards the south of Christian power
during the so-called Reconquest made the French Way possible
through the Castilian plains, a pilgrimage route went through the
lands of the Cantabrian arc towards Compostela. This route still
continues to be followed today by thousands of pilgrims who prefer the exuberant, green landscapes of Cantabria and Asturias to
the severe meseta beauty of Castile and León.
LANDS OF WATER
AND CULTURE
This tourist and cultural programme, aimed at promoting the
rural part of the Lugo area, together with the neighbouring
councils of Corgo and Rábade, points out some of the more
interesting parishes of the Mera area to the west, and more
so that of Romeán to the east, all of which are united perfectly by the route of the Primitive Way to Santiago.
In addition to the rich landscape, the Mera Valley parishes
stand out with their rich archictural heritage which is both
popular as well as monumental in style. In San Xoán do
Alto 1 the central village and its church, with its medieval remains and free-standing portico, have to be seen. In
Burgo 2 the large and elegant Baroque church and the
5
6
small St. Bartholomew’s chapel. In Poutomillos 3 , a high
and cold area, the houses of Vilar village and the peculiar
manor house at Recimil stand out. In Prógalo 4 there is a
very characteristic church in the simplest rural Romanesque
style. In Santalla de Bóveda 5 , a centre of reference for
this small area, the singular Roman temple with its splendid
mural paintings stands out, and also the groups of traditional houses in the village centres of Bóveda, Valín and Vilar. In
Bacurín 6 there is a very beautiful and well conserved Romanesque church, and a village, Vigo, which is of great ethnographic interest. In San Pedro de Mera 7 the traditional
farmhouses are also the most notable feature. These lands,
with their attractive rural landscapes, and traditional routes
between trees and beside the River Mera and the streams
which flow into it, are above all excellent for walking.
Romeán 8 is also a parish of great interest, with a Baroque
manor house and a central village notable for the quality of
its stonework farmhouses, some of which are quite large.
From the centre of Romeán emerges the Romeán Horsetraders Way, which leads to Adai fair, in Corgo, and passes
through Gude, a small but very interesting village.
SOME WALKING ROUTES
The River Rato walk 9 , near the city. A walk of 4 km, from the
Train Bridge (Ponte do Tren) to the Rato’s meeting with the
Miño, along landscaped pathways through oak groves beside
the River Rato or Fervedoira. A tourist information point for
the Miño area is next to a mill which has been transformed
into a café and restaurant.
Open Miño, downstream 10 . A walk of around 3 km around
the wide and tranquil river, from the Roman baths to the
mouth of the River Rato, in which some interesting dykes can
be seen.
12
Old rural Lugo 11 . A circular route of 5 km, whose starting point
is from the Roman church at Bóveda, and which passes by the
Romanesque church of Bacurín.
The river and its mills 12 . A route of 4 km along the banks of the
last stretch of River Mera, amongst oak groves and woodlands,
with mills and small weirs en route.
The high banks, upstream Miño 13 . A return route of 11 km
along the two banks of the river which has been dammed up
with different dykes, with thick oak groves and a variety of trees
on the banks, mainly including alders, willows, birches and oaks,
and with a notable amount of evergreen meadows and pasture.
OTHER PLACES AND
MONUMENTS OF INTEREST
Meilán Church 14 , near the River Miño. Romanesque and with
an apse in two sections, renovated during the Baroque period.
Veral Church
15
, in the Mera area. Romanesque.
Santiago de Saa Church
common in the area.
16
, in a Baroque style which is not
Santa Comba Iron Press Mill 17 , on the banks of the River
Chamoso. A former hydraulic complex and old-fashioned
blacksmith’s which made knives, sickles and other agriculture
tools of great renown in the area.
The banks of the Miño in the southern part of the council
district 18 , above all in the Ribas de Miño and Piñeiro parishes. In this latter parish and the neighbouring parish of San
Román are two of the most interesting hill forts amongst the
many to be found in the Lugo council district.
Teixeiro Lakes and Outeiro Maior 19 oak groves, in the highlands towards the Castroverde area.
17
T. 010 // 982 297 350
Local Police
Rúa das Artes, s/n
T. 092 // 982 297 110
Lost property office: 982 297 283
Tourist Information
Office - The Roman Wall
Interpretation Centre
Praza do Campo, 11
Local Civil
Protection Service
Rúa das Artes, s/n
T. 982 251 658
T. 982 297 285
OMIC Citizens Advice
Lugo Radio Taxi
(Service 24 h)
Consumer Service
Ronda da Muralla, 197
T. 982 213 377
T. 982 297 272 // 982 297 273
www.lugoturismo.com
Descarga a App Turismo de Lugo
Android
IOS
D. L.: LU 97-2014
Lugo Town Hall
Praza Maior, 1