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Wise Pilgrim APPSobrado is defined by its monastery. The Monasterio de Santa María de Sobrado is enormous — a complex that once rivaled the great monasteries of central Spain. Founded in 952, it passed through Benedictine and Cistercian hands, was expanded in the 12th century, had its church added at the end of the 17th century, and was stripped of its wealth in 1834 during the desamortización that dissolved Spanish monasteries. A community of monks returned in the 20th century and has been restoring it since.
The monastery can be visited and offers pilgrim accommodation. The scale of the building — particularly the church and cloister — is disproportionate to the hamlet that surrounds it, a reminder that this was once an institution of considerable power.
Basic services in the village.
The desamortización of 1834, carried out under Prime Minister Mendizábal, dissolved religious orders and confiscated their property across Spain. The process was intended to pay down national debt and break the economic power of the church. In Galicia, where monasteries had accumulated vast landholdings over centuries, the impact was devastating — buildings were abandoned, art was dispersed, and centuries of monastic archives were lost.
The camino leaves Sobrado along the AC-934. At the first small hamlet, Ponte Pedra, it leaves the road by turning left, but then turns right almost immediately to follow a smaller road. You will wind your way through the hamlets of Castro, and Madelos, before entering Corredoiras.
