Logbook · 6 places

Hermitage of Santa Baia da Espenuca

Coirós, Betanzos, A Coruña

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 3 Nature

Spain › Galicia › A Coruña › Betanzos › Coirós › Hermitage of Santa Baia da Espenuca

Hermitage of Santa Baia da Espenuca

Monument · Coirós, Betanzos, A Coruña

Image of Coirós, not of the place itself.

The ermida de Santa Baia da Espenuca, adjoining the church of San Xulián de Coirós, is one of the earliest examples of Romanesque architecture on the Iberian Peninsula, perched on a rocky height above the Mandeo valley. The Constantinian-era church was destroyed by Leovigild, rebuilt and consecrated by a bishop - perhaps Ildulfo-Félix, between 675 and 688 - and rebuilt again and completed on 1 March of the year 881, according to a surviving inscription. In 1063 it was incorporated by donation into the monastery of San Salvador de Cis. It has a single small nave, with a barrel-vaulted apse and a round-arched doorway without mouldings; stone sarcophagi are preserved around the church. Already documented in this way in the 9th century, it is one of the oldest epigraphic records in the Betanzos region.

Photo: José Antonio Gil Martínez (CC BY 2.0)

What to see and do in Coirós