Church of Santa Mariña

The building was rebuilt in the 19th century and, alluding to this fact, there is a Latin inscription between the main door of the church and the upper oculus that translates as “This place is magnificent. It is the house of the Lord and the gateway to heaven. Year of 1818.” However, although the final result of the construction work dates back to this year, it began many years before. It was in 1793 when work started to solve the problem of space in the former church.

So, it should be said that the sacristy that we see today was built with materials salvaged from another building, the Hermitage of Santa Ana. Located on what is today the Praza de Santana, or the Plazuela (little square), as it is commonly known, it was demolished in 1801 on the orders of Bishop Felipe Peláez Canedo for the reason explained previously.

Let us now look at the artistic aspects. The church is organized around a rectangular nave that appears to end in a semicircular sacristy. Next to it are two chapels: the chapel of Saint Anthony and the chapel of St. John the Baptist, whose patronage was taken over by Don José María Quiroga and Pardo Arias in 1819. As to the imagery, it should be noted that the original altarpieces have not been preserved because of a fire. Among the existing sculptures are a Jesus with the cross on His back by Maximo Magariños and a Saint Francis holding Christ after He was taken down from the cross, a work that was awarded a prize at the 1912 Expo in Barcelona.

However, the real jewel of this church is a monstrance donated by the Marquis of Astorga in 1779. At the bottom of this piece of precious metalwork is a text referring to the previous events: “ Donated by His Excellency Vicente, Marquis of Astorga, to the parish church of his town of Chantada. 1779. Miguel Matriti / hallmark / Miguel González. The monstrance is adorned with more than 330 precious stones.

Outside, the building has a beautiful neoclassical façade, with four pillars with an entablature and a divided pediment. From this base, a square tower rests, supporting the bell tower, which also has a second octagonal body. It is said that most of the granite walls have a regular layout as they are arranged horizontally, but a clear difference can be seen between the stone blocks of the main nave and those of the sacristy, which were taken from the former Hermitage of Santa Ana.