Iglesia de San Miguel de Eiré

The Ribeira Sacra is one of the best known Galician treasures inside and outside the Community, which has many scenic, architectural and culinary attractions. In addition, we are fortunate that there is a route of the Camino de Santiago that passes through there: the Camino de Invierno.

One of these attractions, for lovers of art history and architecture, is the Church of San Miguel de Eiré in the village of O Mosteiro, which belongs to the concello of Pantón. This village is very close to Monforte de Lemos and only 3 km from the Monastery of Santa María de Ferreira. The temple was built during the 12th century and belonged to the Benedictine order, although in 1507 it passed into the hands of the Royal Hospital of Santiago by order of the Catholic Monarchs.

It has very original elements in its style.

From the original monastery only the church is preserved, built in a simple Romanesque style, but with elements that make it stand out from other Romanesque churches in Galicia, such as a second transverse nave between the main nave and the apse, on which sits a tower. It also highlights in its entrance a tetramorphic representation of the four evangelists, that is, several parts of their bodies have been replaced by those of their flagship animals: Luke, the ox; Mark, the lion; John, the eagle and Matthew, the man.

In its interior we can find paintings representing the Last Judgment dated in the XVI century. In addition we can find pre-Romanesque remains inside, which may indicate that the temple has an earlier origin, such as its baptismal font or an old biforum window, repositioned inside the temple.