Mosteiro de Santa Maria das Júnias - Pitões das Júnias, Vila Real, Portugal - Portuguese Inventory of Architectural Patrimony on Waymarking.com

"This monastery dates back to an old pre-Romanesque hermitage , founded in the 9th century , whose implantation followed isolation criteria. It is located in a narrow valley , difficult to access and far from the paths and inhabited places, inscribed in a magnificent landscape background.

In contrast to other scenarios in the North of Portugal , which in general have productive coutos , this first community of monks from the Junias depended on pastoralism , a fact that emphasized its humble and ascetic character .

The current monastery
The current monastery and its attached temple were erected during the first half of the 12th century , even before the foundation of nationality. Monks of the Order of São Bento were then employed . In the middle of the 13th century , the monastery started to follow the rule of the Cistercian Order , being added to the Abbey of Oseira , in Galicia . Over the centuries, the monastery has been enriched by obtaining land in the Barroso region and in Galicia. At the beginning of the 14th century , he underwent maintenance and improvement works, in which the construction of the cloister and the expansion of the chancel stand out .

In the beginning of the Modern Age, works were carried out to elevate some of the dependencies of the monastery and the main chapel of the temple, meanwhile destroyed by the silting up caused by the stream that runs along its head. In the first half of the eighteenth century , the church was restored at the level of the timber and lajeamento and redecorated with altarpieces in gilt . From the middle of that century, however, it started to decline and ended up losing monks and income. With the extinction of male religious houses ( 1834 ), his last monk began to exercise the role of parish priest of Pitões. In the second half of the 19th century, a devastating fire led to the ruin of many of the convent facilities.

The Monastery of Santa Maria das Júnias is classified as a National Monument by Decree No. 37,728 of January 5 , 1950 . In 1986, the Directorate-General for National Buildings and Monuments carried out restoration and improvement works. More recently, in 1994 and 1995 , the Peneda-Gerês National Park promoted an archaeological intervention in the cloister and kitchen.

The monastery church is the stage for an annual pilgrimage, on August 15 , which is attended by people from Pitões das Júnias and neighboring villages."

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Webpage of the IPA Database entry: [Web Link] Code Number at the IPA Databse: IPA.00004170

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Date Logged Log   01/07/2021 Ariberna visited it