Historic Noia

We recommend beginning your visit by strolling around the streets in the old town, which has been declared a Historic-Artistic Site. These narrow streets, which will take you back to medieval times (we recommend visiting during one of the town’s main festivals known as the “Feria Medieval” or Medieval Fair), are full of historic buildings such as stately mansions and urban “pazos” (ancestral homes identified by their coats of arms), the town’s old hospitals and churches that are described below.

This church, built in 1327 in Galicia’s coastal Gothic style, was declared a Historic-Artistic Site, along with its cemetery, in 1973. It features a scene from the Epiphany decorating the tympanum of its façade; a polychrome baroque altarpiece in its main chapel and a 15^th-century font. Here we can journey back in time thanks to a museum of tombstones inside the church. It features tombstones ranging from the Middle Ages to the modern age (14^th to 19^th c.), which belong to different professional guilds and social classes.

Completed in 1434 and declared a Cultural Heritage Site. This Gothic church stands out due to the size of its main nave and the numerous colours that fill in when daylight enters its numerous stained-glass windows, especially the impressive rose window in its western façade. Outside the church, we should pay special attention to the sculptured façade, which reflects the influence of Maestro Mateo’s work in Santiago Cathedral’s “Pórtico de la Gloria.” Moreover, if you like legends, we invite you to discover the one about the curse surrounding the church’s unfinished tower.

Since Noia is a small fishing town, the best way to get acquainted with its history is visiting the “Museo do Mar.” This museum centred on the sea features the work of fishermen, fishing tackle from different historical periods and a lot more.

The Church and Cloister of San Francisco, which now forms part of the Town Hall (described below), used to make up the Convent of San Francisco, built in the 16^th century in the Renaissance-Ogival style. In this church, we invite you to look for and discover the numerous coasts of arms on both the inside and outside (in the area near the sanctuary), which belong to the families that helped to erect the building hundreds of years ago.

Noia’s present-day Town Hall, built in the mid-20^th century, houses the former cloister of the Convent of San Francisco. It stands out due to its neo-Gothic tower and main façade featuring a large entrance arch and ornamental battlements. If you want to learn more about Noia’s history, we recommend entering the building, since the former convent cloister features different coats of arms from the town and remains of the building that belonged to the Franciscans. There is also a curious medieval arch from the town’s former hospital, called the Hospital del Santo Espíritu de Afora, which points to the town’s deep-rooted pilgrimage tradition.

The Felipe de Castro Gardens date from the end of the 19^th century. There, thanks to different busts in the gardens, you can discover the cultural aspect of Noia, which is the birthplace of artists such as Felipe de Castro, Antón Avilés de Taramancos, María Mariño or Prudencio Romo (co-founder of the group called Los Tamara). These gardens are followed by the tree-lined avenue called the “Alameda”, where you can enjoy a pleasant stroll while admiring its benches with cast-iron backs, tiled surface and bandstand. Moreover, if you are travelling with young ones, this is the perfect place for them to play and enjoy its children’s playground.