Church of Fiães

Daughter monasteries

Monastery Ermelo

The Mosteiro de Fiães, and Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Fiães de Fenalibus to German monastery of St. Mary of Fiães, is a former Cistercian abbey in the village ( freguesia ) Fiães in the concelho Melgaço in Portugal. The monastery is situated on the border with Spain ( Galicia), approximately 7 km southeast of Melgaço, at a considerable height above the river Minho.

History

The monastery, originally a Benedictine monastery was taken over by the Cistercians in the late 12th century; occupied is a visitation of the monastery Armenteira in 1203 ( as the founding year 1151 is also specified). It belonged to the daughter monastery of Kloster Tarouca of filiation primary Clairvaux Abbey. In the 17th and 18th century alterations took place. 1834, the monastery was dissolved.

Buildings and plant

The transept loose, three-nave Romanesque church has four bays and three rectangular chapels. The west portal and partly the outer walls are still Romanesque. The tower in the northwest likely to be much younger. In the south aisle is a tomb for Fernão Eanes de Lima, the father of the first Visconde de Vila Nova de Cerveira.