Logbook · 11 places

What to see and do in Xunqueira de Ambía

What to see and do in Xunqueira de Ambía (Allariz - Maceda, Ourense): 11 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 5 Nature · 1 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

How far each place is from the centre of Xunqueira de Ambía

Towns near Xunqueira de Ambía

What to see in Allariz 5.7 km · 22 places
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What to see in Paderne de Allariz 8.2 km · 10 places
What to see in Taboadela 8.5 km · 2 places
What to see in Maceda 10 km · 11 places
What to see in Sandiás 11 km · 9 places
What to see in Vilar de Barrio 11 km · 5 places
What to see in Esgos 14 km · 6 places

Spain › Galicia › Ourense › Allariz - Maceda › Xunqueira de Ambía

What to see and do in Xunqueira de Ambía

Xunqueira de Ambía
Village
Xunqueira de Ambía is a concello in the comarca of Allariz-Maceda, in the valley of the Arnoia river, with about 1,400 inhabitants. According to tradition, in the 4th century the Virgin appeared in a rush bed — hence the place's name — and a hermitage was built there; between the 8th and 10th centuries an Augustinian monastery was erected on the site, which came to have up to 56 villages under its jurisdiction. Its great monument is the Romanesque collegiate church of Santa María a Real, whose construction certainly dates from 1164, begun by order of Fernando II of León and protected since 1931; with a Latin-cross plan, three naves and three apses, it combines features ranging from Romanesque to Baroque. Through the municipality, which also preserves castro remains and a Roman road, passes a variant of the Vía de la Plata toward Santiago.
Collegiate Church of Santa María la Real de Xunqueira de Ambía
Monument
A Romanesque collegiate church from the second half of the 12th century, on the Vía de la Plata, whose construction was ordered in 1164 by Ferdinand II of León over an earlier monastic community; it reached its peak under the Augustinians. With a basilical plan of three apses and three naves, its decoration shows references to the pilgrimage to Santiago and the influence of Master Mateo in the side rose windows. It preserves a choir with carved stalls, a Flemish-Renaissance altarpiece with reliefs of the Virgin and an Iberian organ from 1758, as well as arcosolium tombs in the church and the cloister, the latter from the early 16th century, around a courtyard with a central fountain. The tower received a domed bell chamber in 1770. It was declared a historic-artistic monument in 1931 and is the great medieval monument of the Allariz region.
Hillfort of Cerdeira
Nature
A hillfort located between the parishes of Requeixo de Valverde, in the concello of Allariz, and A Graña, in Xunqueira de Ambía (Ourense), also called Outeiro do Castro. It sits at 726 metres above sea level, with a walled oval enclosure 150 metres along its north-south axis and stepped platforms on the sides. On its slopes nine groups of petroglyphs have been catalogued with concentric-circle motifs, including those known as Pedra do Sol and Cobra con Asas; it is one of the sites catalogued in this sixty-square-kilometre concello, which also preserves the A Medorra tumulus and other megalithic remains around the Arnoia.
Souls' wayside shrine of Salgueiros
Monument
A niche from the beginning of the 19th century put up at the place called Salgueiros to collect alms for the souls in purgatory; these petos, plentiful in the Ourense interior, were placed at crossroads and along the edges of paths.
Santa Lucía pool
Nature
A natural pool on the River Arnoia used as a traditional bathing place in summer, one of the two the municipality has along with that of O Malladoiro; the river crosses the district before going on towards Baños de Molgas and Allariz.
Malladoiro pool
Nature
The second of the municipality's natural pools, on the upper course of the Arnoia; the river, 87 kilometres long, runs from here down to the spa towns of the valley and explains the presence of warm springs at several points in the municipality.
Baniño hot springs
Nature
At the place called Baniño, thermal water rises at about 18 degrees, far cooler than that of the neighbouring spas on the Arnoia; they are one of the several springs that punctuate this stretch of the river as it passes through the municipality.
Hillfort of a Acea
Nature
An Iron Age settlement on a hill of 561 metres above the Arnoia, on the boundary with Baños de Molgas. The excavations brought to light pre-Roman hórreos of great size, uncommon in the Galician record.
Porteiro Spa and Fonte Bañiño
Curiosity
The ruins of a nineteenth-century thermal establishment beside the Arnoia and of the spring that supplied it. Abandoned today among the vegetation, they recall the spa fever that ran through this valley in the nineteenth century.
Declaration of the collegiate church of Xunqueira de Ambía as a national monument
Historical milestone
The ensemble of Santa María a Real, raised to a basilica in 1837, obtains the highest state heritage protection, which halted its deterioration and gave rise to the restoration campaigns undertaken later.
Galician Veal
Food and drink
Meat covered by a protected geographical indication, coming from native breeds such as the rubia gallega raised on the family holdings of the valley, the basis of the roasts and the stews of the comarca.