Our Lady of the Abbey

One of the oldest shrines in the Minho · Amares

In a valley of the Gerês, in Amares, it venerates Nossa Senhora da Abadia, traditionally known as one of the oldest Marian shrines in Portugal, to which it is raised by a ramp of chapels like a holy mountain.

Origin and history

Tradition maintains that there was a Marian sanctuary in this place already between the 7th and 8th centuries, which would make it one of the oldest in Portugal. Legend has it that, during the Arab invasion, the Eremites hid the image in a rock and that, centuries later, it was rediscovered by Frei Lourenço and Paio Amado, guided by a mysterious light. These stories are transmitted as a pious tradition, without preserved documentation.

Historically, the sanctuary is developed from a strong medieval cult in a chapel that is now missing. It was reformed in the 17th century and very renovated in the 18th century, when the chapels of the Via Sacra were built from the access ramp, setting up a sacro mountain. The façade was reconstructed in 1725, with a balcony from which pilgrims are preached in the great romaneries. It is integrated into the Way of Santiago.