Hermitage of Our Lady of Lanzada, Romanesque chapel in Noalla, Spain.
The Hermitage of Our Lady of Lanzada is a Romanesque chapel in Noalla featuring a single rectangular nave, a semi-circular apse, and decorative columns serving as buttresses on its exterior. The structure sits directly on a beach where it connects the O Grove peninsula to the Ways of St. James route.
The chapel was built in the late 12th century on the ruins of an earlier church connected to a fortress established in 952 by Bishop Sisnando Menéndez. The site thus served as both a religious and defensive location throughout the medieval period.
The chapel holds deep connections to fertility traditions, with women performing a ritual bathing in nine waves during the last weekend of August. This practice shows how the site remains spiritually important to visitors today.
The chapel is accessible directly from the beach, though the coastal setting can be exposed to wind and changing tides. Visitors should check tidal conditions and wear appropriate clothing for the seaside environment.
Archaeological excavations near the chapel uncovered an ancient castro from the 8th century BC and a late Roman necropolis from the 3rd or 4th century AD. These finds reveal that people lived on this site long before the chapel was built.
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