Village of Iria Flavia
Iria Flavia, linked to legends, St. James, and literature.
An old Roman town, as well as the origin of what is now the town of Padrón. According to documentation, it was a commercial centre with an important port in the mid-1st c. AD. It seems that it was then an inlet formed by the rivers Sar and Ulla at the entrance to the Ria of Arousa. It was located on Road XIX of the Antonine Itinerary (3rd c. AD).
In medieval times, from the 6th to the 11th century, it was an Episcopal See. In the 12th c., Archbishop Gelmírez established the collegiate church and the chapter in Iria, being the second chair of Compostela up to the year 1851.
Iria Flavia, linked to legends, St. James, and literature.
Place of legend, which oral tradition identifies with the foundation of Iria, in the year 40 AD, during the preaching of the Apostle James. From then until the first known archbishop (Andrew in the 6th c.), there is said to have been 28 bishops, who were buried in this church in Iria.
Place linked to St. James, the home of Bishop Teodomiro, who recognised the Apostle’s mortal remains in the year 825.
A literary place, the cradle of illustrious authors. The Nobel Prize-winner for Literature Camilo José Cela was born here, more specifically in the former House of the Canons (18th c.), where his Foundation is located. Nearby is the Rosalía de Castro House Museum, the poetess’ last residence and the place where she died.
Iria Flavia features other cultural sites worth mentioning:
The Church of Santa María a Maior de Iria Flavia, the former Collegiate Church, which dates from the 5th c.; its collection of sarcophaguses, from the 10th and 11th centuries, and its cemetery, known as Cementerio de Adina, where Rosalía de Castro was originally buried and Camilo José Cela’s grave it.
The restored Casa dos Capellanes, which now houses Padrón Museum, 18th c.