6 puntos de interés para descubrir
Cistercian abbey founded in 1137, integrated into the Cistercian Order in 1141. Temple of the end of the XII-XIII century. Restored in the 90s, Europa Nostra Award. Guided tours and guesthouse. More information at www.mosteirodeoseira.org
The most outstanding construction of Oseira, from medieval times, is the church, a jewel of great architectural value, a key example for the study of the Cistercian Order in Spain. Professor Valle Pérez proposes a starting date of around 1185, in the abbacy of D. García II, being the head of the temple the first thing to be built. The analysis of the construction shows a clear unity in the ornamental motifs, type of capitals, organization of the supports... The conclusion of the main chapel would have taken place around 1195-1200. Work continued in the following years on the transept, which would be finished except for the dome around 1200, and on the naves. Construction activity was intense in the first decades of the 13th century. The probable date of consecration in the year 1239 could be considered as the end of the works. The architecture of this temple is a synthesis between the foreign and the local, which is a phenomenon very present in all the architecture of the Order.
The old Chapter Room, which is accessed from the previous room through a molded door with ears typical of 18th century baroque, is very important and very attractive. The floor plan and layout of this singular room, probably built in the last decades of the 15th or first decades of the 16th century, are the same as those of the chapter rooms of the medieval Cistercian monasteries, that is, a square floor divided into nine compartments by means of four central columns. The originality is found, above all, in the columns and vaults. The twisted and fluted columns with twisted moldings, decorated with quatrefoil flowers, rest on smooth cylindrical bases and the vaults rest directly on the shaft, without capitals. From the walls depart the ribs of corbels located at a medium height, some with simple moldings, others with capricious decoration of small arches. The vaults are ribbed with curved ribs and abundant ribs that converge in keystones with decoration in relief, polychrome with branches and caricatured faces with merely decorative intention. It is clear the relationship of this architecture with such a marked decorative will, with the Portuguese Manueline style. The walls are articulated in the remaining walls with semicircular arches that housed altarpieces with panels in relief, as Peralta relates; abundant drawers and large mirrors made up the sumptuous decoration of this sacristy since 1642, when the abbot Simón Rojo gave this destination to the old chapter house.
Crossing the vestibule, with a coffered vault, at the entrance to the monastery, and connected by a large semicircular arched doorway, is the cloister called the Hospedería or the cloister of the knights, so named because it was the stables and therefore the place where all those who arrived at the monastery on horseback would alight. Located behind the main façade, it has a long chronology from 1713 to 1759, and a measured composition of semicircular arches and straight windows, between pilasters with rich molding. The north and south wings have seven arches, the widest central one and a balcony in the second body, and the other two have nine. The upper galleries are covered with low ceilings, and the masonry segmental angles reinforce the architectural structure. In this cloister are the stables that form an architecturally interesting room with a sober barrel vault and stonework cribs embedded in the same wall. This cloister also has three vaulted rooms with simple ribbed vaulting, with ribs that start directly from the angles and join in the center in an undecorated circular keystone. They date from the 13th century and are the only surviving remains of the medieval monastery.
Cloister with fountain of the XVI century, recreated in 1997. It completes the tour of the monastic dependencies.
Rural village in the parish of Oseira, San Cristovo de Cea. Nestled in the Martiña mountain range; feast day of Santa María la Real on August 15.
