The hermitage of A Nosa Señora da Lanzada is a small chapel located in the parish of Noalla, in Sanxenxo, built in the 12th century in late Romanesque style. It sits on the western end of a point that enters the sea, in the vicinity of the remains of a medieval fortress, known as the tower of A Lanzada and next to the castro of A Lanzada.
The place, formerly an island and today an isthmus, has been inhabited since ancient times, as evidenced by the innumerable remains found both in the ancient settlement and in the necropolis that is in the vicinity with numerous Roman remains. In the place was presumably a Phoenician or perhaps Roman lighthouse.
The Romanesque chapel was built on the remains of another older church linked to the fortress built in the tenth century to defend, along with the Torres de Oeste in Catoira and Cambados, the lands of Santiago de Compostela from the Viking and Norman invaders.
The place was later a battle between Dona Urraca and Archbishop Diego Gelmírez until the 13th century when it was destroyed by the Arabs. It was later rebuilt more robustly. Already in the 15th century it was seriously damaged by the Irmandiñas revolts. It was finally abandoned in the 16th century. Currently only the remains of one of the towers and the hermitage are preserved.
The main façade is very simple and the only ornaments are a small false pointed or unloading arch on the door lintel and a rose window. In the later facade is the apse, of semicircular form and with four inlaid columns. The side facades are also very simple, emphasizing the canzorros of the eaves. In one of them there is a second entrance with a semicircular arch. The ridge ends with Greek crosses.
The floor plan is rectangular, with a single nave in two sections separated by an arch on pillars. A slightly pointed vault forms the roof of the main nave. Inside, the baroque altarpiece stands out, where the image of the Virgin of A Lanzada is found.
Legends
Like many other Christianized castros, the chapel is in the place where surely a pagan god had been worshiped, most possibly related to fertility. In fact in the area there are three dolmens. The rites are surely pre-Christian.
Thus, the chapel has been associated since antiquity with the rite of fertility in the bath of the nine waves on A Lanzada beach. On the last weekend of August, the pilgrimage of the Virxe da Lanzada is celebrated. On Saturday night hundreds of women come who want to end their infertility, for this they must undergo the bath of the nine waves at midnight. At dawn they have to go to the hermitage and sweep the ground to undo all kinds of witchcraft and evil eye, and then make the offering to the virgin. After Mass the procession takes place. It is also common for bathing to be on St. John’s night and not just to get fertility but to heal the sick and even animals.
There is another fertility legend that consists of placing floral offerings on the so-called bed of the virgin, a rock that is found at the break of the hermitage. Ancient legends claim the existence of tunnels that connected the coast with the Ons Islands.
The sailors also ask for the favors of the virgin to protect them from the dangers of the sea, as evidenced by the votive offerings in the form of miniatures of boats hanging inside the chapel.
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