Monastery of San Xoán de Poio

The monastery of San Xoán de Poio is one of the great Benedictine houses of Galicia, a historic-artistic monument since 1971. It holds two cloisters, one of the most important monastic libraries in Spain, with more than 100,000 volumes, and a monumental hórreo. Today a small community of Mercedarians lives there; it has a guesthouse and is a stop on the Spiritual Variant of the Camino de Santiago and on the Padre Sarmiento Route.

Its history

Tradition attributes its foundation to Saint Fructuosus of Braga, in the 7th century, and in the Middle Ages it gained power through donations from private individuals and kings: Combarro itself belonged to the monastery from the 12th century. In 1548 it joined the Congregation of San Benito of Valladolid and a year later opened a highly prestigious College of Theology. The agricultural and sea revenues of the early modern period paid for the works that gradually replaced the medieval buildings. The Benedictines left in 1835, and in 1890 the Mercedarian community of Conxo, in Santiago, arrived and restored and enlarged the building.

What you visit

• The Cloister of the Processions, the oldest, Renaissance from the late 16th century, the work of the architect Mateo López, with star vaults, corbels and keystones with figures and a Portuguese-style chafariz fountain in the centre.
• The Cloister of the Portería or of the Orange Trees, from the mid-18th century, with the great mosaic of the Camino de Santiago, made between 1989 and 1992 to a design by the Czech artist Antoine Machourek, founder of the School of Mosaics.
• The church, Baroque from the late 17th and early 18th centuries, with a façade between two towers and images of Saint John the Baptist, Saint James and Saint Andrew. Inside, the main altarpiece with Solomonic columns and the one in the Christ chapel, with a Last Supper.
• The hórreo, in the orchard, one of the largest in Galicia, resting on three pairs of legs: the most visible sign of the monastery's wealth.

The visit also includes the refectory, the Cloister of the Crossing, the exhibition rooms and the water supply.

Hours and how to get there

Monday to Saturday 10:00 to 13:00 and 16:30 to 19:30, and Sunday only 16:30 to 19:30. Turismo de Poio does not publish the entry price: ask on 986 770 244, the community's phone number. It is at Rúa Convento, s/n, in Poio, a few minutes by car from Combarro, on the way to Pontevedra. Allow an hour.

If you want to sleep inside, the monastery guesthouse answers on 986 770 000. It is a good visit for a rainy day, and combines with the Combarro old town and the Samieira mills trail, which starts from San Xoán de Poio.