Santuario de la Virgen de A Franqueira

The former monastery of A Franqueira is located in the heart of the Hills of Paradanta, and the earliest record of the building is from 1063. The community living in A Franqueira was following the rule of Saint Benedict by the time it received a significant donation from King Alfonso VII in 1114. Like most abbeys in Galicia, A Franqueira was a monastery of the Cistercian Order. The actual date of its affiliation is unknown, but it is said it joined the Order in 1293 and nothing indicates monastic life was over by then. There is no certain evidence on this point, but it is said that the Cistercian reform came from the Monastery of Melón, and that A Franqueira was the last monastery in Galicia to be incorporated into the Cistercian Order during the Middle Ages. It lost its rank of abbey when it became part of the Congregation of Castile in 1521. In 1835, monastic life disappeared from A Franqueira due to the new ecclesiastical confiscation laws. The church consists of a single nave divided into four bays and a beautiful 17th-century tower.