Lourenza

Lourenzá is a town with great appeal thanks to its scenery -among which is the area of Cazolga-, the fishing on its rivers and streams and its historic buildings.

Vilanova de Lourenzá sits in a beautiful valley in the northern section of the province of Lugo, in the region of Mariña Central. It forms part of the coastal route of the Pilgrim's Route to Santiago de Compostela. Lourenzá is a town with much history, revolving around the hospitality and industry of the Benedictine monastery founded by Count Don Osorio Gutiérrez (“Saint Count”) in 969. According to tradition, the name Lourenzá is derived from the names of his children, Lourenzo and Ana. The current monastic building is a spectacular baroque structure whose church was planned in 1732. Its façade served as a trial for the Obradoiro façade of the cathedral in Santiago. In the chapel of Valdeflores (18^th century) is the marble Paleochristian sarcophagus (6^th century) which Don Osorio brought from Aquitaine in the 10^th century for his body's eternal rest. The baroque legacy of Lourenzá is enriched by the chapel of Nuestra Señora De Valdanera and the monastery's striking reredos-reliquary. From the Neoclassic period is the solemn architecture of the high reredos and its images carved by Ferreiro. The Museum of Religious Art widens the town's cultural possibilities.