Mosteiro de San Martiño Pinario

The Mosteiro de San Martiño Pinario presents an immense, block-long granite façade that commands the northern side of the Inmaculada Square. It stands as a rival in scale to the cathedral itself, measuring approximately twenty thousand square meters. This institution, founded by Benedictine monks around the eleventh century, once operated as the most powerful monastic center in Galicia. Its current architectural form, dominated by Renaissance and Baroque styles, represents a total reconstruction effort that began in the sixteenth century to reflect the immense wealth and regional authority the monastery held at the time.