Santa Eulalia de Bóveda, Bóveda de Mera, Spain

Santa Eulalia de Bóveda was a worship or religious building in Roman times. Probably it belongs to the third and fourth centuries AD although it was renovated and re-used in later times.

It is near Lugo (Lucus Augusti) in a turning from the road to Friol. The road to Lucus Augusti and Bracara Augusta was very close to the group of Bóveda in ancient times.

It had two floors. The lower one is kept relatively complete and well preserved. The façade has a small portico that gives access to the door of the inside part.

Bóveda houses one of the most important collections of wall painting of the Roman Hispania. It keeps paintings on stucco, in several colours, that represent birds. Vases and amphoras were painted at the base of the arches.

Santa Eulalia de Bóveda was a religious center dedicated to worship water or any other type of worship that we don't know for sure. Today, it is a church used for Catholic worship.

References:

comenius.co.uk

User Reviews

alex itm (13 months ago)
Very beautiful and recommended to see and take the walk around it

Hugo Anaximandro Rodríguez Rial (13 months ago)
Magnificent and interesting place, fantastic guide, very attentive to visitors

Mette Korsholm (2 years ago)
Small roads lead to this small Roman temple beneath a church in Santalle de Bóveda, which is also a small village. The church is only open certain days, and is apparently opened by the local "tourist information". I think so, because the office was closed when we were there, and then we went to the church where another couple was with the local man. Very nice, small building with wall paintings.

Diego P. Ramallo (2 years ago)
A wonderful archageological site with a very unusual room (only some parts of the ceiling missing) and wonderfully preserved III century AD frescoes depicting birds. Not very easy to reach, but absolutely worth a visit when in Lugo.

Janna Palm (4 years ago)
What a wonderful find in our travels, an excavation of an early Roman house. Beautiful paintings, with colors so fresh and looking like they were just completed. It was a highlight for us...young and old.

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright joiseyshowaa

Historic Site of the week

Broch of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.

The site is surrounded by three ditches cut out of the rock with stone ramparts, encircling an area of around 45 metres diameter. The remains of numerous small stone dwellings with small yards and sheds can be found between the inner ditch and the tower. These were built after the tower, but were a part of the settlement's initial conception. A 'main street' connects the outer entrance to the broch. The settlement is the best-preserved of all broch villages.

Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.

At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

Do you know an ancient castle or magnificent church near you?

Why not share it with other people interested in history? You can add your own historic sites and attractions to SpottingHistory.com.

It's absolutely free, easy, and doesn't even need registration!

Upload data

Santa Eulalia de Bóveda

Address

Details

Rating

Interesting Sites Nearby

User Reviews

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Great Spa Towns of Europe

History of Guernsey & Jersey

Most beautiful castles in Lithuania

Historic Site of the week

Broch of Gurness

Looks like you are a history fan!