Logbook · 6 places

What to see and do in Porqueira

What to see and do in Porqueira (Limia, Ourense): 6 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 1 Nature · 1 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of Porqueira

Ponteliñares floodplain 5 km

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Spain › Galicia › Ourense › Limia › Porqueira

What to see and do in Porqueira

Porqueira
Village
Porqueira is a concello of around 800 inhabitants in the comarca of La Limia, in the province of Ourense, with its seat at A Forxa, nestled in the valley of the river Limia beneath the foothills of the Serra do Xurés. It had its heyday in the Middle Ages, when the monastery and castle of Porqueira existed, of which only the tower survives today. In the mid-12th century the monastery was run by Augustinian regular canons, and in 1157 Alfonso VII granted it to the cathedral of Ourense; later it passed to Hieronymite monks, their only house in the present-day province, the period of the monastery's greatest splendour. The castle, occupied in 1387 by the Duke of Lancaster and, by the mid-15th century, held by the Benavente family, gradually fell into ruin until only its tower remained.
Monastery of Santa María a Real de Porqueira
Monument
In the mid-12th century it was run by Augustinian canons regular; later it passed to the Hieronymites, for whom it was their only house in what is now the province of Ourense, and prior Jordán raised the church and the cloister in its period of splendour.
Tower of o castelo de Porqueira
Monument
Of the medieval castle that watched over the western edge of the Antela only the tower remains; in the 19th century it came close to disappearing, when the fortress was put up for sale as a quarry of ashlar for other building works.
Ponteliñares floodplain
Nature
A special area of conservation of about 160 hectares divided between Porqueira and Rairiz de Veiga, in the floodplains of the upper Limia, south of the former Antela lagoon; also included within the A Limia Special Protection Area for birds. 226 bird species have been recorded there, thirty-two of them listed in Annex I of the European directive. It combines hay meadows and riverside woodlands of alders and ash trees alongside oligotrophic waters, with heathland and, among the aquatic vegetation, one of the few Galician populations of the marsh thistle. Among its fauna, with 23 taxa of interest, notable species include the Euphydryas aurinia butterfly, the smooth snake, and birds such as the Tawny Pipit, the Short-eared Owl and the Little Bustard. It was declared a site of Community importance in 2004 and a special area of conservation in 2014.
The Tower of A Forxa
Monument
The only standing element of the medieval castle that gave its name to the capital of the concello. It was on the point of disappearing when it was proposed to sell it as a quarry for ashlar, and today it is still in private hands.
The monastery of Porqueira under the Augustinian canons
Historical milestone
In the middle of the 12th century the old monastery of Porqueira came to be governed by the Order of Canons Regular, which shaped the ecclesiastical organisation of the six parishes of the concello throughout the Middle Ages.