Santa María da Armenteira Monastery, Meis, Spain

Santa María da Armenteira Monastery belongs to the Cistercian order and was founded by the knight Ero de Armenteira in 1168. It has a square cloister, a kitchen, and a tower, all in the 18th-century Baroque style. The monastery was abandoned after the sale of church lands in 1835. The church has a floor plan in the shape of a Latin cross, three naves and three semicircular apses. The central nave is crowned with a pointed barrel vault, and the side naves with groin vaults. The transept has a vault raised on Mudéjar-style pedentives. On the façade, the 12th-century rose window is of particular interest. The whole complex has today been rebuilt thanks to the Association of Friends of the Monastery of Armenteira.

References:

spain.info

User Reviews

Artur Nogueira (2 years ago)
Extremely quiet place. The nuns are very sweet, the hospederia is very nice and the pilgrims benediction it is a must.

Grzesiek Malanowski (3 years ago)
Incredible place! Beautiful, peaceful and unique! It's not often you can spend a night under 8th century roof. Thank you!

Fábio Pinheiro (3 years ago)
The monastery stays in a somewhat remote area a little bit over 20km from Pontevedra center. Nonetheless it's got a great atmosphere and it's possible to do a free visit, although you can't enter the monastery building itself but only the garden within its walls and the church outside.

Patrick Cavallaro (3 years ago)
Very good place in a very small Village, really nice. There are two bar-restaurants where you can taste a local food and appreciate people friendship. You feel to be like home.

David Stewart (3 years ago)
A bit off the coastal tourist trail, in the cool of the hills. Historic monastery and church. Not a large site, worth a stop on a day tour. A couple of local bars to nearby for some refreshments, and an air of peace when we were there off season

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright transitpeople

Historic Site of the week

Medieval Walls of Avila

The city walls of Avila were built in the 11th century to protect the citizens from the Moors. They have been well maintained throughout the centuries and are now a major tourist attraction as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visitors can walk around about half of the length of the walls.

The layout of the city is an even quadrilateral with a perimeter of 2,516 m. Its walls, which consist in part of stones already used in earlier constructions, have an average thickness of 3 m. Access to the city is afforded by nine gates of different periods; twin 20 m high towers, linked by a semi-circular arch, flank the oldest ones, Puerta de San Vicente and Puerta del Alcázar.

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 María da Armenteira Monastery

Address

Details

More Information

Rating

Interesting Sites Nearby

User Reviews

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Landmarks of Sicily

Rhodes, The Island of Knights

Great Spa Towns of Europe

Historic Site of the week

Medieval Walls of Avila

Looks like you are a history fan!