"There are records of the existence of a church dedicated to Santa María located in Vigo since at least the 12th century. This is how it appears in a document from 1156 in which the parishes of the diocese of Tuy are divided between Bishop Don Pelayo Méndez and your town hall It is also mentioned in another document from 1170 by which King Ferdinand II of León grants the church to the bishopric as compensation for other territories taken for the Crown. It is also mentioned in different documents from the monasteries of Melón and Oya. This temple was followed by another in the Gothic style built at the end of the 14th century and completed in 1403. This new church preserved several chapels and the transepts of the previous one. On June 11, 1497 it was established as a collegiate church, with Jaime González de Pedroso the first prior. In 1585 the church was looted by the pirate Francis Drake. Around 1680, numerous reforms were carried out in the temple. In 1809, a nearby powder keg, located in the Castro castle, exploded. The church suffered great damage, so a new one had to be projected. The project was entrusted to Melchor de Prado y Mariño, an academic from the Royal Academy of San Fernando who presented it in 1811, although the works did not begin until 1816 due to the war against the Napoleonic invasion. The land was also paved to create the front square. The works were completed in 1838, with the construction of the tabernacle and the side altars."
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