Virgin of the Sea
Pastoriza Sanctuary
The bells of shipwrecks ring in Pastoriza, as in many other churches in Galicia. They are donations from sailors in gratitude for divine intercession, rescue work or even gifts from scrap metal dealers. In the Modern Age, the sanctuaries of A Barca (Muxía) and Pastoriza were the most popular for sailors. In the latter is the bell of a German ship on which the inscription “Kurfüst Hamburg” can be read.
The Sanctuary of the Virgin of Pastoriza is a Marian temple overlooking the sea. Its history is linked to the Suebi kingdom of Galicia, to the pirate attack of Francis Drake (16th century) to A Coruña, to unknown shipwrecks, to a captain who ordered its reconstruction or to the writer Emilia Pardo Bazán, who recovered the history and religious pilgrimage to the place (every 29 September) after writing the book “La leyenda de La Pastoriza” (1887).
Outdoor altar. The sculpture of the virgin stands on a rocky outcrop located uphill, hundreds of metres from the temple, overlooking the Gulf of Artabro and the Atlantic.
GALLERY
LOCATION