Montouto (Lugo) (0)

Did you know that... Montouto

O Padrón and Paradavella are villages in the council of A Fonsagrada through which the Primitive Way passes. O Padrón and Montouto are located in the Alto do Hospital mountain range. The village of Montouto is one of the highest in the Sierra del Hospital, is located at the foot of the peak of Laguna Seca, its name seems to come from "monte oteador" or "monte vigía". And under the heights of Alto de Cerredo and A Serra do Hospital is Paradavella, whose translation into Spanish would be Parada vieja. The primitive Neolithic settlers left their mark in these lands, furrowing it with megalithic burials that today still remember these people that thousands of years ago crossed these places. Of Montouto it is known of its existence already in the year 1357 when Pedro I the Cruel founded the Royal Hospital of Santiago de Montouto that was located above the village and of which today hardly remains half visible a piece of wall. It was the most important hospital in the Galician mountain, hence it is deduced that the village of Montouto has an important Jacobean history and transcendence.

A little more history

This hospital was moved under the reign of Carlos II El Hechizado in 1698 to another nearby place, thus creating the New Hospital of Santiago de Montouto. This new construction had four buildings with roofs of straw and slate, of which the parish of A Fonsagrada would take charge in 1771, it was run by hospitaleros and was in operation until the middle of the 20th century. The location of this new hospital coincides with that of the so-called dolmen of Montouto, the curious thing is that the old hospital was very close to the menhir of Pena or Peña Labrada and its foundation could have been based on some previous building, since in the year 1232 there is some reference to it. The Sierra del Hospital takes its name from this noble building. O Padrón and Paradavella were the domain of the Order of the Knights Hospitaller of San Juan, under the Encomienda of Portomarín.

To discover What to see in O Padrón, Paradavella and Montouto?

In O Padrón the Camiño do Calvario leads directly to the parish church of San Xoán, which is engraved with the Maltese Cross. Paradavella preserves pallozas and a beautiful and traditional Galician construction. Its church is also dedicated to San Juan. The village of Montouto, cattle rancher par excellence, shows large slate roofs in its constructions, and already in the port itself, next to the hermitage of Santiago, you can visit the remains of the New Montouto Hospital, which had an infirmary, chapel, bedrooms, corridors, portico, walls, orchard and even a coat of arms. In front of the hermitage stands the dolmen of Pedras Dereitas.

Festivities

In Montouto, in the chapel next to the New Hospital of Santiago de Montouto, a pilgrimage in honour of the holy Apostle is celebrated on July 25 and in September it is done in the Fonte do Pastizal, near O Padrón.

Traditions

In the area, dolmens still serve as milestones to identify the boundaries between villages.

Curiosities

The peak of Laguna Seca has been known since the late twentieth century as Pico Muradal, this is because the fire surveillance station that existed in the Muradal was moved to the Sierra del Hospital, specifically the peak of Laguna Seca, but continued to maintain the name of Muradal.

The Legend

Hospital de Pilgrims de Santiago de Montouto, founded by a cruel king and reformed by a bewitched monarch.