Logbook · 7 places

What to see and do in Vilasantar

What to see and do in Vilasantar (Betanzos, A Coruña): 7 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 1 Nature · 1 Activities · 2 Curiosities

How far each place is from the centre of Vilasantar

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Spain › Galicia › A Coruña › Betanzos › Vilasantar

What to see and do in Vilasantar

Vilasantar
Village
Vilasantar is a municipality of A Coruña province in the comarca of Betanzos, located at its southern end, with the Tambre river as its boundary. Within its territory are preserved megaliths such as the mámoa of Vilariño and that of Pedriño, and remains of the Roman camp of Ciadella, the most extensive of those discovered in Galicia. Its history revolves around the monastery of Santa María de Mezonzo, whose origin may go back to the Suebian period — the church preserves capitals from the 6th or 7th centuries — and from which, toward the mid-10th century, came Pedro de Mezonzo, later bishop of Compostela; beside it are preserved a fulling mill and a good twenty documented water mills. During the Civil War and the post-war period the Guerrilla Army of Galicia was active here. It has around 1,230 inhabitants.
Monastery of Santa María de Mezonzo
Monument
A monastery in the parish of Santa María de Mezonzo, in Vilasantar, of which today only the Romanesque church survives. Its origins probably go back to the Suebi period, with two 6th- or 7th-century capitals reused in the present building, although the known monastic community was founded as a double monastery and was donated to King Alfonso III the Great in 870; it had a library and in 995 came under the monastery of Santa María de Sobrado. The abbot Pedro de Mezonzo grew up there and went on to become bishop of Iria-Santiago in the time of Almanzor, and tradition credits him with the Salve Regina. Rebuilt in the 12th century, it has a basilical plan with three naves ending in three semicircular apses, with historiated capitals and an eight-lobed rose window. It was declared a Monumento Histórico-Artístico (a former Spanish heritage-protection designation, later replaced by Bien de Interés Cultural) in 1931.
Shrine of Nosa Señora da Laxe
Monument
An 18th-century Baroque sanctuary whose Rococo altarpiece holds four carvings by the sculptor Gambino, one of the great Galician image-makers of the 18th century, in an ensemble that combines popular devotion with sculpture of quality.
Waterfall of o río das Gándaras
Nature
A waterfall about fifteen metres high on the río das Gándaras, near where it flows into the Tambre; the stream runs through the concello past twenty-two water mills and a batán before plunging over the falls. It rises and ends entirely within Vilasantar, near Ril, in the parish of Barbeito, and its name refers to a low-lying, sandy, damp terrain where only scrub grows. Its course still drives the mechanism of one of the few surviving batáns on the Peninsula, today turned into a small museum in the hamlet of O Batán, which it gives its name to, and a hiking trail known as the Ruta dos Muíños follows its course.
Fulling mill of Mezonzo
Curiosity
A batán located at O Batán, in the parish of Mezonzo, concello of Vilasantar, driven by the waters of the río das Gándaras. Tradition attributes its construction, from the late twelfth century, to the monks of the monastery of Mezonzo, which would make it one of the oldest preserved on the peninsula. It fulled blankets and shawls from February to June until it stopped working in 1954; restored in 2001, its mechanism is still running in a place that today has barely a handful of residents.
Trail of os Muíños do río das Gándaras
Activity
A trail, PR-G 195, about six kilometres long, that follows the río das Gándaras from its source to the Tambre past twenty-two water mills, some restored, the batán de Mezonzo and a fifteen-metre waterfall. The river rises near Ril, in the parish of Barbeito, and its name refers to a gándara, a low-lying, sandy, damp terrain where only scrub grows; in the hamlet that gives the batán its name, today turned into a small museum, the mechanism of one of the few still preserved on the peninsula still works.
The fulling mill of Mezonzo and the mills of Las Gándaras
Curiosity
Along the river das Gándaras twenty-two mills have been documented, and among them survives the fulling mill of Mezonzo, where woollen cloth was fulled. It is the most complete ethnographic complex of the concello.