Santa María do Azougue

During the final years of the XIVth century and the beginning of the XVth, Santa María do Azougue was built to the order of Fernán Pérez de Andrade on the site of an earlier Romanesque construction. If we face the west front we see, on either side of the main entrance, niches with the figures of the Annunciation. On approaching the door, we find that the mouldings around its arch – the archivolts - very much resemble those designed by Master Mateo for the Portico de la Gloria in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Over the door, on the tympanum, the central figure, a seated Virgin with the Child in her arms, is flanked by representations of the Annunciation on the right, and the Adoration of the Magi on the left.

Completing this façade are a rose window that illuminates the inside of the church, and a bell tower on the right.

Inside the church we can appreciate its basilican plan, with a central nave separated from flanking aisles by large compound piers. Approaching the high altar we see that each aisle has its own apse, the central one heptagonal and the lateral ones rectangular. The reredos behind the main altar features XVth century polychrome wooden carvings of the Flemish school representing the Life and Passion of Christ. These valuable carvings are all that could be recovered following a robbery in 1981.