Village
Monforte de Lemos is the capital of the Ribeira Sacra and of the comarca of Tierra de Lemos, in the province of Lugo, and its second most populous city, with about 18,000 inhabitants spread between the city and its rural parishes. Of hillfort origin, it experienced its greatest splendor in the 16th and 17th centuries as capital of the County of Lemos, one of the most important in Spain, and the arrival of the railway in 1883 made it Galicia's most important railway junction. On the hill of San Vicente do Pino stands the monastery of the same name next to the remains of the old castle, including the keep of the counts of Lemos. The Escolapios school holds paintings by El Greco, and over the Cabe river crosses the so-called Roman bridge, actually of medieval origin.
Monument
The keep of the counts of Lemos, raised between the 13th and 15th centuries, thirty metres high, thirteen metres to a side and with walls three metres thick; it was badly damaged in the irmandiña war of 1467 and had to be rebuilt.
Monument
A college founded in 1593 by Cardinal Rodrigo de Castro and built in Herrerian style, which is why it is called the Galician Escorial; its picture gallery preserves two oil paintings by El Greco and five panels by Andrea del Sarto. The works, designed by the Jesuit architect Andrés Ruiz and continued by Juan de Tolosa and Juan Bustamante, began under the patronage of the cardinal, archbishop of Seville and great benefactor of Monforte, so that the Jesuits could educate all of Galicia there. They ran it until their expulsion in 1767; it continued as the Real Seminario de Estudos, the seed of a future university, until 1773, passed in 1777 to the Dukes of Alba, and since 1873 has been run by the Piarist fathers, who during the civil war saw it turned into a military hospital for the wounded from the Somosierra front.
Monument
A monumental complex crowning the hill on which Monforte de Lemos was born, flanked by remains of the wall, the defensive towers, the keep and the remains of the palace of the Counts of Lemos, much of which was lost in a fire. It is considered the most likely location of the original Castro Dactonio, a Celtic settlement of the Lemavi; excavations in 2007 found remains of a hillfort on the slope of the hill. Although the monastery dates back to the 10th century, the current building begins in the 16th: the façade and cloister are neoclassical, from the 17th and 18th centuries, and the church, with a Renaissance doorway, has a transitional Gothic interior with star vaults. Beside the baptismal font is preserved the tomb of Abbot Diego García, linked to the legend of the crown of fire.
Monument
The convento of Santa Clara de Monforte de Lemos (Terra de Lemos) is a 17th-century Poor Clares foundation promoted by the 7th Counts of Lemos, viceroys of Naples, who donated to the convent part of their private art collection. With that legacy the Museo de Arte Sacra was formed, today the city's most outstanding museum and one of the most important of its kind in Spain, with pieces largely coming from that comital donation.
Monument
Bridge over the río Cabe rebuilt in the late 16th century by master builder Pedro Rodríguez Remberde, commissioned by Catalina de la Cerda y Sandoval, seventh Countess of Lemos, with six round arches, two of which were buried in later repairs; it retains stonemasons' marks on the central arches. Tradition places its origin in Roman times, which is why it is also known as the Roman bridge, and its name Vella (Old) distinguishes it from the Ponte Nova, built in the last century. Today open to single-direction road traffic, it gives access to the riverside walks along the banks of the Cabe.
Monument
The Pazo de Tor is a baroque manor house with neoclassical features, built on a rise above the Lemos valley, in the parish of Tor, municipality of Monforte de Lemos. It originates from the Garza de Castrillón lineage, dating to the 14th century, although the current building was constructed in the last third of the 18th century after being rebuilt following the fire caused by Napoleonic troops; it also became linked to the Quiroga, Losada, Sarmiento and Taboada lineages. The ground floor housed the service quarters and the upper floor the manorial residence, with five halls, a study, two dining rooms and a double-height chapel. It retains its period furniture intact and a notable family library. Today it is managed by the Diputación de Lugo, which opened it as a museum in 2006, with free admission.
Nature
The río Cabe, a right-bank tributary of the Sil, runs 48.7 kilometres entirely within the province of Lugo; it rises at 960 metres above sea level in Incio and enters the valley on crossing the municipality of A Pobra do Brollón. Already in Monforte de Lemos, after skirting the sierra de Moncai, it receives the waters of the río Mao near the castro de Parte and enters the plain where the city sits; it crosses the parish of Ribas Altas and, within the urban area, also receives the río Seco. Several bridges cross it in Monforte, among them the Old Bridge, and both its banks have been fitted with walkways running along the riverside.
Curiosity
Built between 1594 and 1603 in the east wing of the cardinal's college, its three flights of thirteen, nine and thirteen steps of monolithic granite seem to hold themselves up in mid-air, with no visible support beneath the landings.
Curiosity
The old Jewish quarter around the streets of Zapaterías, Falagueira and Pescaderías, of which the Gaibor house and stretches of the wall survive; the city forms part of the Network of Jewish Quarters of Spain.
Monument
Opened in 2007 in the old steam roundhouse, one of the largest railway installations in the north of the peninsula, it is the only railway museum in Galicia and keeps historic locomotives and passenger carriages.
Activity
Opened in 2009 in a building put up in 1583 as a hospital, it brings together an exhibition, a tasting room and a shop devoted to the wines of the Ribeira Sacra designation of origin and to its terraced viticulture.
Monument
The parish church of the old quarter of Monforte, at the foot of the hill of San Vicente do Pino; its Baroque fabric contrasts with the Renaissance ensemble of the Colexio da Antiga, on the other side of the Cabe.
Activity
The patronal festivities of Monforte in honour of the image venerated in the church of the monastery of San Vicente do Pino, today part of the parador; they fill the old quarter with open-air dances and parades every summer.
Historical milestone
Alfonso XII inaugurated in 1883 the line that linked Madrid with A Coruña; Monforte was turned into the great railway junction of Galicia, with workshops and depot, and its population grew at the pace of the trains.
Activity
A communal meal of the Monforte neighbourhood of As Cruces around the botelo, the winter sausage made with pork bones and meat; it is served boiled with cachelos and greens and accompanied by wine from the comarca.