Bien: Islas de San Simón y San Antonio
Comunidad Autónoma: C.A. Galicia
Provincia: Pontevedra
Municipio: Redondela
Entidad local menor: Islas de San Antonio y San Simón
Categoría: Sitio Histórico
Código: (R.I.) - 54 - 0000135 - 00000
Registro: (R.I.) REGISTRO BIC INMUEBLES: Código definitivo
Fecha de Incoación: 02-03-1999
Fecha de Declaración: 29-07-1999
Fecha Boletín Incoación: 26-04-1999
The island of San Simón is an island belonging to the archipelago of San Simón, along with that of San Antón and other islets in the Vigo estuary , Spain . It belongs to the parish of Cesantes , in he municipality of Redondela , being one of the five places in this parish. At present it is uninhabited.
It presides over the San Simón inlet , at the inland end of the Vigo estuary , which bathes the municipalities of Redondela , Sotomayor and Vilaboa . It is linked to the island of San Antón by a bridge. The set of the two islands is 250 meters wide and 84 meters long. There are also two other small islets, San Bartolomé and San Norberto.
Throughout its history the island was used as a monastery , lazaretto , jail and home for orphaned children.
The set of the two islands has been listed as Asset of Cultural Interest with the category of Historic Site since July 29, 1999.
Middle Ages
The island was an ancient monastic center sung by the poet Mendinho in the Middle Ages . Proof of this is his writing, the only one, by the author who is known, and who is believed to be a native of the area. In his honor, a bust was made on the island, as well as Johan de Cangas and Martín Codax
Between the 12th and 13th centuries it was inhabited by the Templars and later by the Franciscans, the order of the Pascualinos of San Simón. But in 1370 this religious order suffered excommunication, being forced to leave the island. After being abandoned for almost a century, the diocese of Tuy , which until now had political control of the island, gave it to Isabel la Católica , in an act of kindness and gratitude for her fidelity.
In 1589 it was sacked by English pirates, among whom was the famous Francis Drake .18th century until the Spanish civil war
The cove was the scene of the Battle of Rande in 1702 , when the ships of Holland and England , united by the War of Succession against the Crown of Castile, tried to assault the fleet of the Indies loaded with the goods of almost 3 years. The galleons belonging to the Crown of Castile and escorted by a French police that came from America , and which resulted in the defeat of the Franco-Castilian forces. A large part of the contents of the galleons (believed to be gold, silver, diamonds, spices such as cocoa and also fine woods and tobacco) were looted by English ships from theQueen of England (Anne I of Stuart), but in the attempt to frustrate the expectations of theft, a large part of the riches of the ships were thrown into the sea, and a large percentage of gold and silver belonging to the crown of Castile had already been downloaded to Madrid, weeks before the confrontation. Subsequently, the members of the Anglo-Saxon fleets attacked the villages near the Ría de Vigo , with special devastating effects in villages such as Cangas de Morrazo , Redondela , Vigo , Sotomayor and Arcade ; those they burned and “laid waste”. The island of San Simón also suffered the consequences of the English troops.
The church of San Pedro was almost totally destroyed, until its subsequent restoration in the 19th century. The testimonies produced on the whereabouts of the riches since the event are confusing, and the numerous dives carried out in different years after the sinking of the ships revealed the non-existence of gold and other precious materials around the island.
In 1719, Admiral Michelle entered the island. Later there is a new threat from Napoleon's French troops in the Spanish War of Independence , and the island was abandoned and inhabited on numerous occasions.
The continuous occupation by monastic orders was due to its beautiful geographical location, since it was isolated, in a quiet place, and close to the Poyo monastery , one of the most important of the time.
All this context of invasions and looting by pirates and foreign admirals causes a state of instability on the island and in the region in general. In addition, a conflict at the Galician level was simultaneously taking place, the Irmandiñas Wars . The archipelago of San Simón was also witness to these conflicts, and Sotomayor's representative Fernando Andrade was seriously injured. Since the middle of the seventeenth century the island has remained abandoned. Later, by Royal Ordinance of June 6, 1838, and with the help of the Riojan merchant Velázquez Moreno , the island was fitted out and fitted out to turn it into a leper colony or lazaretto. On the island of San Antón there were the sick without cure, while on that of San Simón the rest were housed. Given the frequent quarantines to which the ships of the American route were subjected, it was an essential element for any port that wanted to enter the long-haul sea lanes, which was a differential and vital fact for the expansion of the port of Vigo and the establishment of the Catalan canneries that brought with them new techniques of business organization and manufacturing. Thus, the numerous epidemics of cholera and leprosy coming from abroad were eliminated. The leper colony was closed in 1927, and the bridge linking theIsla de San Antón , since until then the only means of communication between the two islands was maritime.
Civil War
Starting in 1936, with the arrival of the Spanish Civil War , the island's buildings were used as a concentration and extermination camp for political prisoners opposed to Francoism . At first, the majority came from nearby areas such as Vigo , Pontevedra , Orense and Villagarcía de Arosa ; after the fall of the republican north front, the prisoners came from Asturias , León , Cantabria and the Basque Country, and after the civil war, prisoners were transferred from all the prisons in Spain. It was officially classified as a penal colony, but in reality it was a concentration camp for communist , republican , socialist or anarchist political prisoners . It remained in operation until 1943.
The old leper colony was then relegated to the shelter of the military who guarded the island, as well as the complementary personnel (administrative, quartermaster or infirmary). For its new functions, watchtowers were also built, improving the walls and accesses.
The prisoners, subjected to inhumane conditions, were distributed in different wards in poor sanitary and habitability conditions. Mass shootings were not uncommon on the island. It is estimated that hundreds of political prisoners died, generally at the hands of Falangists . The island was considered one of the most fearsome prisons of the Franco regime. Only in the year 1941 250 people died in San Simón.
All the survivors of the camp have mentioned Father Nieto for his special cruelty towards those detained there. It was common for him to brandish a pistol while coercing and insulting inmates with exclamations such as: “Sons of the Pasionaria! Dynamiters! We must burn you as the Jews were burned! », Forcing them to go to mass under threat of death. A guard of the camp related what happened after a shooting: «There was one who was badly wounded and dying on the ground, while Father Nieto said these words to him:" Die, die, impious red one ", hitting him at the same time with his cane ».
The island of San Simón was the scene of the end of the film The Carpenter's Pencil , where Da Barca, a political prisoner, was transferred to the island, one of the prisons from which it was said that it was almost impossible to get out alive.
Postwar
It was in 1943 when the archipelago stopped working as a prison, suffering a gradual abandonment, only interrupted in the summer times by members of Franco's Guard, named Colonia de Educación y Descanso, who spent their vacations there. On August 22, 1950, a tragic incident happened. About fifty passengers from Franco's Guardthey were returning from the island to land in a boat. Many of the passengers of that small boat, called Monchiña, did not know how to swim, which multiplied the consequences of the accident. One of the Falangists fell into the water, instinctively causing a large part of the rest of his companions to move to that gunwale to try to help him. The decompensation of the boat caused it to overturn, throwing the remaining passengers into the water. Those who could not swim clung to the people next to them, giving almost no one a choice. Almost none of the passengers could swim and forty-three crew members lost their lives in the accident. It was the worst maritime tragedy experienced in the Vigo estuary in the last hundred years. It was a sunny summer day, the sea was very calm in the San Simón cove, and yet
The island was closed due to the tragedy but it was reopened to be used as Hogar Méndez Núñez for the Training of Orphans of Sailors, which operated between 1955 and 1963.
XXI century
In 1999 the islands of San Simón and San Antón were declared an Asset of Cultural Interest and reconstruction began trying to achieve harmony between nature (rescuing the gardens or the centenary Paseo dos Buxos - walk of centenary box trees -) and the remodeling of existing buildings without deteriorating the environment.
Thanks to its declaration as a center for the recovery of historical memory, the island of San Simón was converted by the hand of César Portela into a protected space, completing the regeneration of the gardens and tree species. The recovery was directed towards a cultural function with an auditorium, library, sea school, hotel, and restaurant. Among the different cultural activities carried out in that place, the celebration of the delivery of the Xerais Awards for the Galician language and the Merlin Award stands out.. In 2006 the Ministry of Culture chose the archipelago of San Simón as a symbol of repression in the Year of Memory. Currently the archipelago can be visited free of charge for two hours in groups of 300 or 400 people departing by catamaran from the docks of Cesantes or Chapela.
Currently, the island has become "A Illa do pensamento" , or The Island of Thought , a living center of production, reflection and cultural creation and a point of influx and interest for artists and thinkers, a project directed by Francisco Javier Alonso González.
One of the fundamental objectives of the Isla del Pensamiento is to turn San Simón into a focus of cultural activity with the capacity to attract thinkers and institutions of international relevance and at the same time spread the culture of Galicia.
A meeting in The Island of Thought is the starting point of the novel Trilogy of War (Short Library Prize 2018, Seix Barral), by Agustín Fernández Mallo, who offers a detailed description of the island today and fictionalized episodes of its history during the
Spanish Civil War.
It was ordered to be built in 1842 , it lacked drinking water and there those infected from European and Caribbean ports purged their diseases. It was discontinued in 1923, becoming a prison between 1936 and 1943 . Today you can enjoy guided tours around the island, highlighting the Paseo two Buxos (walk gazebo with boxwood centenarians), without forgetting the rest of their gardens.
Access
From the Port of Cesantes , by boat or catamaran. It also has access for the disabled .
From the Port of Santo Adrián ( Vilaboa )
Buildings and facilities
Facilities
Stella Maris Residence.
House of the Trades of the Sea and Sailing School.
Aquarium
Museum and Library.
Multipurpose Building.
Monuments
Bridge between the island of San Simón and the island of San Antón : in 1991 it was included in the catalog of monuments in the province of Pontevedra .
Viewpoint of the mouth of the estuary .
Viewpoint at the bottom of the estuary .
Chapel of San Pedro.
Cemetery.
Paseo dos buxos : Walk of ancient trees forming arches.
Monument in honor of Jules Verne
(
visit link)