Sobrado dos Monxes

Sobrado de los Monjes

Camino del Norte

A Coruña · La CoruñaGalicia

Galician compound: sobrado (from the Latin superatum, 'the upper one, raised construction') + dos Monxes ('of the monks', referring to the Cistercian monastery founded in 952 and restored in 1142).

The first element, sobrado, designated in late Latin and Galician Romance a multi-storey building (literally 'what is above'), in contrast to the single-storey cabin. The word gave Galician sobrado 'upper floor, attic', Castilian sobrado with the same meaning (now rare), and Portuguese sobrado (which travelled to Brazil as a generic name for two-storey colonial urban houses). The toponym became fixed by the monastery, founded in 952 by the counts Hermenegildo and Paterna, refounded in 1142 as a Cistercian monastery under the influence of Bernard of Clairvaux, and active to this day with interruptions. The monastic complex —⁠17th-century Baroque church, Gothic and Renaissance cloisters, 12th-century Romanesque chapter house⁠— has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2018. The second element, dos Monxes, was added to distinguish this town from other Galician Sobrados.

Evolution of the name

  1. Superatum medieval Latin 10th century
  2. Sobrado medieval Galician 11th — 12th century
  3. Sobrado dos Monxes modern Galician from the 13th century

Reflections, to the letter

Visit the Monastery of Santa María de Sobrado, active since 952 and the motherhouse of the Cistercian Order in Galicia. Attend vespers if you arrive in mid-afternoon: the monks chant in Gregorian in the Baroque church, and the acoustics of the 12th-century Romanesque chapter house are among the best in Galician Romanesque. The complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2018, also hosts a small albergue for pilgrims inside the monastic dependencies: bed, dinner with the monks, absolute night silence.

Languages of origin

Themes

Origin status

confirmed

Sources

  • Yepes, A. de — Crónica de la Orden de San Benito
  • Yáñez Neira, D. — El Real Monasterio de Sobrado de los Monjes (Vigo: Galaxia, 1988)

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Camino del Norte

  1. Santiago de Compostela
  2. Monte do Gozo
  3. Lavacolla
  4. O Pedrouzo
  5. Arzúa
  6. Boimorto
  7. Sobrado dos Monxes
  8. Friol
  9. Baamonde
  10. Vilalba
  11. Goiriz
  12. Abadín
  13. Mondoñedo
  14. ··· toward the start