Santa Maria de Pombeiro Monastery
Documented since 853, the Santa Maria de Pombeiro Monastery was moved and rebuilt in the 11th and 12th centuries, although little remains of the building endeavours undertaken by the Benedictine monks of the time.
In 1112, it received a Charter from D. Teresa and was sponsored by the important family of the Sousões de Ribavizela, who had accumulated vast land assets and political influence.
In the Modern Age, the monastery was greatly transformed, acquiring the essentials of its current appearance, with the main works showing heavy Baroque influences, as seen in the apse, the high choir, the organ and the gilded woodcarvings.
In the early 19th century, the cloister was remodelled according to neoclassical standards, a model unparalleled in the monastic spaces of northern Portugal.
In 1834, the extinction of the Religious Orders in Portugal led to the closure of the Santa Maria de Pombeiro Monastery, the complex was later restored in the 20th century, allowing it to be studied and opened to the public.
Come discover it!