A field guide to the birds of Courel Mountains (Galicia)

Common Rock Thrush (Monticola saxatilis)

Publishing firm Lynx Edicions published in 2004 the first ornithological guide to the Courel Mountains, one of the most biodiverse regions in Galicia.The book (available only in Spanish) is based on researches conducted over several decades by scientists of the Galician universities. These investigations resulted in the cataloging of 114 species of birds in a relatively small territory. The Courel Range covers an area of ​​21.020 hectares stretching mainly by the municipalities of Folgoso do Courel, Quiroga, Pedrafita do Cebreiro and Samos. However, the guide focuses primarily the first of these municipalities, with an area of only 68.16 square kilometers. This limited geographical space hosts an extremely varied avifauna comprising some uncommon species.

Sylvia communis

Motacilla cinerea

The birds of the Courel Mountains live in nine major habitat types: 1) Rivers and riverbanks 2) Rocky places 3) Villages and farmlands 4) Soutos (chestnut forests) 5) Devesas, local name for a characteristic type of mixed forests where grows many tree species 6) Heathlands 7) Reboleiras (forests of Quercus pyrenaica) 8) Holm oak woods and thorn bushes  9) Pinewoods

Eurasian Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola)

On the territory of Courel, that represents just a 0.8% of the total area of Galicia, can be seen almost all species of Galician birds, except seabirds and wetland species. This rich avifauna includes several species in danger of extinction, as the Eurasian Eagle-Owl (Bubo bubo), the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) and the Gray Partridge (Perdix perdix), commonly called charrela in Galicia.

The handbook (150 pages) contains a descriptive listing of all bird species cataloged in this region (with common names in Spanish, Galician and English) and many watercolor illustrations. The guide also features six birding routes.

The original title of the book is Guía de las aves de O Caurel. The current official spelling of the toponym is Courel, but the alternative form Caurel (now more common in spoken language) is well documented since ancient times.

English-speaking travellers in Galicia (III) : A Summer Holiday in Galicia by Catherine Gasquoine Hartley

Excerpts from the book A Summer Holiday in Galicia by British author Catherine Gasquoine Hartley (1911)

Galicia has been called by one of her sons «the land of glorious recollections». In her history, reaching back into the remotest antiquity, in her literature and her art, in the imperishable buildings of her ancient cities, where still, after so many centuries, every building has its associations, its legend, or record, the Gallegans have something from old which te young countries of the world, with all their headlong progress, have as yet only begun to gain. That something is tradition.

The language of Galicia, originally a Latin tongue, had deleveloped under the Suevi into a distinct Romance language, which was already established in the twelfth century, much earlier than the Castilian -also a Romance language derived from the Latin- had developed into the Spanish language as it is spoken in Madrid to-day. [...]  It is tempting to write further of Galicia's early poets, of her learning and culture in this period of her Golden Age, and also to enlarge on the significance of it all in the Galicia of to-day. I am conscious of the inadequacy of this cursory survey. For we find in this glorious past an explanation of many things that persist in the Gallegan character -a character very positive, in which the old energy has not dwindled, but is finding new channels of expression, keeping the simplicity, the charm, and the graceful naturalness, and also the power of finding beauty in the world -in what is most homely, obvious, and frequent in it, the beauty which is always there -qualities which can belong alone to a people into whose past life civilisation has sunk deeply.

A peasant home in Corgo, 1925

 Racial types may always be best studed in the women of a nation; and it is well worth while to turn our attention to the women of Galicia. Representing as they do both on the physical and psychic side a conservative tendency, and with a lower variational aptitude than men, women preserve most markedly primitive racial elements of character. In no country is this seen with greater truth than in Galicia.

  From the earliest notices we have of the Gallegan women we find them possessed of a definitive character of remarkable strenght [...] The farms are worked by women, the ox-carts driven by women, the seed is sown and reaped by women -indeed, all work is done by women. While realising fully the evil of this draining of the men of the race, I would yet suggest that the special character of the Gallegas peasants has benefited by this enforced engaging in activities which in most countries have been absorbed by men. The fine physical qualities of these workers can scarcely be questioned. I have taken pains to gain all possible information on this subject, and I find it is the opinion of the most thoughtful Gallegans that this labour does not damage the beauty of the women, but the contrary, nor does it prejudice the life and health of their children. As workers they are most conscientious and intelligent, apt to learn, and ready to adopt improvements. [...] What impressed me was that these women looked happy. They are full of energy and vigour, even to an advanced age.  

          

The chestnut tree in the valley, painting by Daniel Castelao

 This variety in the Galician climate, with its changing colours in a sensitive landscape, is a never-ending source of joy. In days of rain, when the mists roll in from the sea, the whole country seems to wither into grey-indigo shadows; on other days, under steady sunlight, it shimmers with gold and sparkles in gladness with brighter colours. At night, when perhaps you have climbed some hill or walk in the shaded alameda in one of the towns, you will see the landscape sometimes in clear moonlight, when every object takes a sharper outline than in the day as the colours of the night turn the scene to wonder; and sometimes, after rain has fallen, it is as if the land is sleeping under a wonderful silver net-work of silver mist. And always, from dawn to sunset, in days of rain and in days of sunshine, you will find something new, a wealth of colour and of beauty greater than is to be found in any other place. [...] The landscape was charming and exceedingly varied, at times giving memories of the lower slopes of the Alps in Switzerland or in Tyrol, or perhaps more often of the mountainous districts in Wales or in Ireland, though all the colours were more varied. At first, at certain places in the road, we had glimpses of Vigo's beautiful ria, which recalled the coast scenery of Norway. Once, looking backwards, we saw the Cies Isles -sharp, naked peaks that rose out of the sea black and impressive, like gigantic fingers; while the hills, with their austere outline against the sky, that now was a milk-blue, were tinged in the shade almost to black, but were a delicate blue, fading to the grey silver of olive-leaves, where the light touched him. [...]

   The vineyards of Galicia are far more beautiful than the vine-fields of southern Spain, where the plants are small and grow upon the ground. The long arcades were half in light and half in shadow, and here and there amog them were groups os vintagers: peasant labourers, who assumed tom my fancy, as we saw them, the appearance of joyous votaries of Dionysus, at work at the green temple. 

Monforte de Lemos - Workers at railway station, early 20th century

The train penetrates the Garganta del Cabe by means of a score of tunnels and then enters the valley of Lemos until the town of Monforte is reached. Here we had to change trains and to wait for some hours, which gave me an opportunity of a hurried visit to the Jesuit College. I saw the finely carved reredos, the work of the Gallegan wood-carver, Francisco Moure, and very beautiful St. Francis by El Greco, which is, in my opinion, finer than the similar picture in the Museo del Prado at Madrid [...] We had no opportunity of conversation with the inhabitants of Monforte, but, from the appearance of the people, in the streets and at the café to which we went for refreshments, we gathered the impression that the town has a very active life [...] I recall, too, the faces of the workers whom we saw -I should think that these men were republicans and socialists.

Downtown Ferrol, early 20th century

 For the mighty schem of naval reconstruction now being carried out at Ferrol has been entrusted to four English firms. This had brought a large colony of British men and their families to Ferrol. I was glad, however, to know that of the 20.000 workmen employed it is not permitted for more the 10 per cent. to be British [...] I cannot express the strange sensations it brought me to be transplanted suddenly into the atmosphere of London. [...] I had supposed Arosa Bay the finest possibe inlet of this coast, but the harbour of Ferrol is more striking, and the scenery has a grander character. The cliffs rise in curious forms, and my attention was claimed by one in which there was a great chasm, which looked as if it had been cut out by some giant hand. The sea was the deepest blue, and in some places almost black. Showers of foam came every now an then, breaking on our decks, to remind us we were nearing the Atlantic.

Then we came to Betanzos, which is a very old town, with an aspect of its own as fascinating as its history. I would urge all visitors to Galicia to stay at Betanzos. [...] Here you have a town unchanged, unspoilt, which the antiquarian and the artist will find a treasure-house of interest, while to all lovers of beautiful places Betanzos must be dear. You have old churches and cloisters with exquisite examples of Galician carving; you will find a wealth of history and legend, and, if you are fortunate enough to come at the right time, you will witness the old-world customs, such as the Fiestas de Caneiros (The Battle of Flowers), which is celebrated on August 10. [... ] I longed to wait in this town, where there were so many things I wanted to dream of and to see.  

The character of the Gallegans, as I gradually learnt to know it -both from my last visit, spent chiefly in the towns, where my intercourse was with writers, artists, and the men and women who we should call «the upper class», and also from my earlier visit, ten years before, when I lived among the peasants, sharing their common life -has semmed to me a very positive character. And this character, though at first seemingly full of contradictions, is, I believe, one of almost curious uniformity, strongly individual, and not easy to comprehend.[...] Perhaps this accounts for the wide-spread and absurd opinion that the Gallegans are a stupid people, dull of wit, stubborn, and known, like the Auvergnats in France, all over Spain as labourers and servants. It is hard to say exactly what is the profit of comparing one people with another; there is an element of stupidity in most current estimates of national qualities. But I know of none except this one that is not founded on some truth, however coloured and distorted. One would, indeed, be inclined to suspect a joke, as for instance, when I find in an old book on the Spanish people the suggestion that «sweeping chimneys and cleaning shoes are the occupations suited to the Gallegans». [...] But I am treating a serious object in too light a way. Listen, then, these facts. Galicia has the best educated working class in Spain. At a recent levy for the Spanish Army it was found that 90 per cent. of the Gallegans could read and write, that 5 per cent. could read but not write, and only 5 per cent. could do neither. Compare these figures with Castile, where 50 per cent. were able to read and write, and 50 could do neither, or with Andalusia, where the percentage of those able to read and write sank to 10, leaving 90 per cent. unable to do either. Comment here is superfluous. 

English-speaking travellers in Galicia (II) : Galicia, the Switzerland of Spain by Annette M. B. Meakin

Excerpts from the book Galicia, the Switzerland of Spain (1909) by British author Annette M. B. Meakin

   Fare thee well, Galicia! [...] Thou art a land that for the wonderful richness of thy soil and the exuberance of thy vegetation might be made the Garden of Europe. All these thou art, and more; yet not only art thou practically unknown to the rest of the world, but thou art forgotten even by Spain: thy own Peninsula is almost unconscious of thy existence, though thou art the spot which has provided her with her most sacred traditions, her poetry, her trovadors, and her Patron Saint. Thy beautiful mountains, thy pine-clad peaks, thy waterfalls, thy torrents and thy rias, thy smiling valleys and thy mossy ravines, thy terraced slopes and thy limpid streamlets, are separated by the rest of Europe by the waters of the River of Oblivion.

A glance at the map of Galicia will show the reader that this province is entirely composed of alternating peaks, hills, and valleys. It has often called on this account «the Switzerland of Spain». The rock if which the mountains and boulders are formed is almost entirely of granite [...] The rocky soil possesses all the ingredients most favourable to rich vegetation. Galicia has many different climates, resulting from the varied heights of the different zones above sea-level. The difference in temperature and in the humidity of the air are very considerable. Central Galicia is in the same latitude as Russian Turkestan, as part of Albania, and as Pennsylvania, but her climate is infinitely more humid than that of these countries. Heavy and continuous rains soak through the earth and replenish the innumerable mountain springs which are the great cause of Galicia's wonderful fertility; the springs, themselves perennial, feed in their turn the countless streamlets, each of which is again a fresh centre of evaporation. The vigorous vegetation which responds to these extremely favourable conditions helps to preserve, by the cool moisture of its rich and abundant foliage, the dampness of the atmosphere, and to the reunion of these three causes may be traced the remarkable humidity of the province.

   Within a radius of ten miles my eyes have rested upon pine-clad mountain scenery wild and beautiful as that of Norway, and upon a riviera of vegetation like that of Mentone, embracing the orange, the cactus, the olive, the fig, and even the lemon tree laden with its ripening fruit. The sides of the narrow and undulating valleys are often entirely vine-clad; the steeper slopes, cut into terraces, are planted with potatoes, cabbages, or bristle-pointed oats. Sometimes a mountain-side appears as if it were provided with a majestic flight of verdant steps cut in its side from base to summit.

Narcissus bulbocodium (Photo Carlos Rueda)

The climate and soil of Galicia are so variated that not only can every plant known to Europe be made to flourish there, but many tropical ones as well [...] The magnolia and the camellia grow there in profusion [...] The camellia exhibits here some six hundred varieties, and is, during the winter months, the chief ornament of the public walks and gardens [...] Another favourite tree is the azalia, which is constantly found in the public squares and gardens. Wisteria does as well here as in Japan. I noticed it specially luxuriant in Pontevedra. [...] There are flowers out of doors all the year round. Not only is the camellia brilliant with white and red blooms in December and January, but high hedges of wild geraniums are also in bloom, and sweet-scented violets abound in the woods in January. In March and April the hoop-petticoat narcissus carpets meadows as profusely as the wild hyacinth does with us [...] Many of the wild flowers are much the same as those of our own Devonshire hedges and meadows, but I noticed a number that I had never seen in England. [...]

 

Old chestnuts by the river Sil (Photo Carlos Rueda)

 The chestnut, the oak, and the walnut are three of the commons trees in Galicia. The chestnut, the king of the Gallegan forests, grows to perfection, and its nut formed, until quite recently, one of the principal means of sustenance among the poor [...] The poor have a process by which they smoke and dry the chestnuts that are to be preserved for winter use; these are eaten just as you would eat a hard biscuit. I tried one, but found it too hard for my teeth. The pigs in many parts are fed largely upon chestnuts; hence the remarkably fine flavour of their bacon. [...] The birch, betula alba, only grows in the higher zones. I found this tree on the high moorlands near the Portuguese frontier. The willow, the ash, and the Portuguese laurel grow in abundance in the valleys along the river banks, and in most places where the ground is moist. The lime is another tree that grows abundantly, and to a great high, in Galicia. In March an the early part of April the uncultivated parts of the country are gloriously yellow with gorse, ulex Europaeus, which sends out long shoots and branches covered with brilliant blossom, and is altogheter finer than I had ever seen it in England.

 

Vineyards on terraces at Ribeira Sacra (Photo Alberto López)

Galicia is essentially a vine country; from time immemorial her vines have been appreciated, but rather for their abundance than their quality, as too little care has been bestowed upon their cultivation [...] Every peasant house has its vine-covered verandah, and the beauty of many a Gallegan landscape is greatly due to the vine-clad terraces that cover the hillsides. In the early spring, when the branches are still bare, they look, in the distance, like fishermen's nets spread out to dry in the sun.

I understood now how it came about that the Gallegan emigrants sometimes died of home-sickness, for I had experienced something of the inexpressible charm of their beautiful country, their hills and valleys always green, and their perennial streams that are never parched, and I could understand something of what it must be to these poor fellows to be separated from such a home by thousands and thousands of miles in a land where all nature was so different. South America, with its wide prairies under a merciless sun, its wild and savage mountains where one may travel for days together without finding a sign of human life, is very different from populous Galicia with its gentle, smiling scenery, its mountains whose slopes are veritable gardens, its innumerable springs, its rias and its rivers, its vines and its orchards. [...] Yes, I had begun to understand the devotion of the Gallegans to their beautiful native land. Who would not love passionately so sweet a birthplace? Even the Russian loves his steppe, where the scene never changes for thousands of miles. In Galicia, every nook, every crag, every peak, every valley has a distinctive character that is all its own, with its own peculiar beauty. Galicia's cottage homes are of granite, they last for many generations; even the Russian exile loves his home, though his isba of wood will not last twenty years. Shall not the Gallegan regret Galicia, where there is so much that his memory can cling to? There are two kinds of home-sickness to which the Gallegan emigrants are subject, -saudades, a milder form, and morriña, already mentioned; they die of the latter, but the former is not fatal, and the sound of their beloved musical instrument, the gaita, or bagpipe, has been known to revive their spirits and give them the power to throw it off.

 

English-speaking travellers in Galicia (I) : Spanish Galicia, by Aubrey F.G. Bell

Excerpts from the book Spanish Galicia by Scottish professor and writer Aubrey F.G. Bell (1922)

    

Galicia, which now seems so peaceful and remote, cannot be dimissed as a country which has had no history. It has frequently been the scene of bitter feuds and warfare. In the early centuries of the Christian era it produced men of great fame: Prudentius, Priscillian, the early Latin chroniclers Paulus Orosius and Idatius, and in the ninth century, after the discovery of the body of St. James at Padrón in 812, it became in a sense the centre of Europe. Thousands of foreign pilgrims yearly made their way to «Sent Jamez in Galiz», who attracted men of all nations ans stations -poets, penitens, saints and kings- to his shrine at Compostela [...]  It is not, however, in a few pages that one can review the history of Galicia. Its pleasant land hospitable bays enticed friend and foe alike, but the Normans proved less sucessful on this coast in the ninth century than had earlier the Greeks and Phoenicians. Sucessive invasions by land and sea brought the most heterogeneous elements into the country, and the great Santiago pilgrimages continued this cosmopolitanism.

   Yet, in spite of raids and turmoil, Galicia was the corner of the Peninsula in which lyric poetry chiefly flourished [...] But a century before the birth of Chaucer a school of lyric poetry arose in Galicia, of which some exquisite remnants, fresh now as when they were written, have been preserved for us in the Cancioneiro da Vaticana, discovered half a century ago in the Vatican Library. The centre of this school was at Santiago de Compostela. This migt seem to indicate that it was the result of the cosmopolitan influence of the pilgrimages, but practically all critics are now agreed as to the indigenous character of part of this fascinant poetry [...] As Portugal gradually separated itself from the mother country a new language was formed from the Galician and survives in modern Portuguese. Galician lyric poetry imposed itself throughout Spain during two centuries, and King Alfonso the Learned composed in Galician his celebrated Cantigas de Santa Maria [...]

      

The traveller should perhaps not expect of the serious, hard-working Galicians the innate courtesy of the high-bred Castilians or the more superficial attractions of the butterfly Andalusians, but he will be helped on his way by many an act of true kindliness. Certainly they are very lovable and human, and having great gifts and a determined will, they are likely to make their influence more and more felt in the old world and in the new.  [...]

Ferreirós brook at Courel mountains (Photo by Guillermo Díaz Aira)

Galicia has been called the Switzerland of Spain, but it has really little or nothing of Switzerland and -apart from the Irish characteristics of its inhabitants- might more accurately be described as a mixture of Cumberland or Scotland with Italy or Greece. Certainly it has a most various and entrancing beauty, a quiet charm which captivates the fancy and inclines even the foreigner to morriña [homesickness] when he leaves it. It is a land rich in springs and rivers, and most of the rivers, the Miño, the Sil, the Tambre, Mandeo, Lerez, Ulla, Limia, Avia and a score of others, are of fascinating beauty, while the smaller streams, flowing through granite, are a succession of green transparent pools and rushing falls. [...]

  The colouring of the country is delicate and lovely, its outlines soft and charming; its bays and harbours are excellent, the beauty of its rias is strange and exquisite. But it also contains vestiges of ancient races and ruins of famous buildings which make it one of the most interesting parts of Spain. There are many castros (burrows) and earth mamoas (tumuli). There are also many dolmens and some cromlechs, but the existence of menhirs is more doubtful. There are also logan or moving stones. In many of the mountains great pillars of granite look as if they been thrown into the air and poised themselves marvellously as they fell. The granite slabs which so delightfully hedge the fields in many parts of Galicia are no doubt a reminiscence of the prehistoric buildings so common in all Celtic countries. [...] 

 

  The architecture of Galicia offers a wide and fascinating field of study. Galicia, with its usual conservatism, clung to the Romanesque style long after it had been abandoned in other parts of Europe. The cloisters of some cathedrals and convents are truly magnificent [...]
   Galicia rivals Catalonia in the beauty of its sculpture. The details of the capitals are often of amazing variety and loveliness, and the statues on many a church façade are as full of life as those os Santiago's Pórtico de la Gloria. The same lifelike expression animates the wood-carving throughout Galicia : the statues in the church of the Convent of Celanova, in Lugo Cathedral, at San Martín (Santiago), Tuy Cathedral and many other churches are a joy and a possession for ever. Galicia is in fact -albeit a fact rarely realized- as remarkable for its architecture and sculpture as for its natural scenery.

Sinclinal de la sierra del Courel, un monumento geológico de 305 milllones de años en Galicia

El sinclinal visto desde la carretera Quiroga-Folgoso (Foto Alberto López)

La sierra del Courel, uno de los espacios naturales más importantes de Galicia (aunque con graves problemas de conservación), posee un patrimonio geológico de excepcional interés. En este territorio montañoso de poco más de 21.000 hectáreas de extensión, situado en las sierras orientales de Galicia, se concentra la tercera parte de los parajes gallegos incluidos en la lista Global Geosites, un inventario de lugares geológicos de relevancia mundial elaborado por la Unión Internacional de Ciencias Geológicas. Dentro de este patrimonio ocupa un lugar destacado el sinclinal del Courel, también llamado sinclinal de Campodola-Leixazós.

La sierra del Courel en el mapa de Domingo Fontán (1845)

  El sinclinal del Courel figura entre los grandes monumentos geológicos de la Península Ibérica, pero no fue reconocido como tal hasta tiempos recientes. En 1983, el Instituto Geológico y Minero de España promovió su clasificación como punto de interés geológico internacional y en mayo de 2012  la Xunta de Galicia lo declaró monumento natural. Constituye un ejemplo típico de lo que se conoce como sinclinal tumbado o inclinado, un plegamiento cuya parte cóncava estuvo inicialmente orientada hacia arriba pero que por efecto de las fuerzas tectónicas se fue inclinando hasta adoptar una posición más o menos horizontal.   

Vista del pliegue en el mirador de Campodola (Foto Alberto López)

 La estructura geológica aflora entre los kilómetros 7 y 28 de la carretera LU-651, desde el norte de la villa de Quiroga hasta la aldea de Ferreirós de Abaixo, en el municipio de Folgoso do Courel. La sección más espectacular del plegamiento se encuentra a la altura del kilómetro 9 de esta carretera, en el valle del río Ferreiriño (en territorio del municipio de Quiroga), dominando las aldeas de Campodola y Leixazós. En ese lugar se halla la charnela, el punto de máxima curvatura del pliegue. Los flancos o mitades paralelas de la estructura se extienden hacia el norte a lo largo de entre diez y doce kilómetros. La erosión cortó longitudinalmente el cordal montañoso en esta zona y dejó al descubierto la estructura interna del sinclinal, que puede distinguirse aquí con una precisión poco común.

 

Sinclinal del Courel y anticlinal del Piornal (Universidad de Oviedo)

 Por encima de esta formación existió otro plegamiento de similar tamaño, orientado en dirección inversa: el anticlinal del Piornal, cuyo flanco superior fue arrasado casi completamente por la erosión, pero del que quedan huellas al sur de este paraje, en la comarca de Valdeorras. En realidad, el sinclinal del Courel es solo la porción  más visible de una gran estructura de más de cien kilómetros de longitud que se extiende hasta más al este del Alto del Morredero, en los Montes Aquilanos (en la provincia de León, fuera de Galicia).

   

Historia geológica de Galicia (Museo de Geología de Quiroga)

 Una larga investigación realizada en tiempos recientes por geólogos y matemáticos del grupo de análisis de pliegues de la Universidad de Oviedo indica que el sinclinal se formó en el período Carbonífero, hace entre 324 y 305 millones de años. Este proceso se desarrolló durante la primera fase de la orogenia varisca o hercínica y desde entonces el sinclinal ha permanecido prácticamente inalterado en la misma posición en la que se encuentra hoy. Los movimientos de la corteza terrestre que originaron el gran pliegue están asociados a la colisión entre dos antiguas masas continentales, Gondwana y Laurusia (o Euramérica), que acabarían uniéndose para formar el supercontinente Pangea. Fue en esa época cuando emergió del océano el Macizo Hespérico, la parte más antigua de la Península Ibérica. Por ello, el geólogo Juan Ramón Vidal Romaní ha propuesto que el sinclinal sea considerado como un testimonio genuino del nacimiento de Galicia.

 

Estratos rocosos del sinclinal (Foto Alberto López)

   Las diferentes capas de roca que constituyen el pliegue en su parte más visible (pizarra y cuarcita, más concretamente cuarcita armoricana) se formaron en épocas más remotas, en distintas fases del  Ordovícico. Las cuarcitas datan del Ordovícico Inferior (488-478 millones de años) y las pizarras, del Ordovícico Medio (471-468 millones de años). La gran dureza de las cuarcitas no impidió que las fuerzas tectónicas comprimiesen y doblasen los estratos como si fuesen tabletas de plastilina.

Formación de pliegues

 La enorme presión que sufrieron las masas rocosas en ese lento proceso hizo que se calentasen a más de 300 grados centígrados, con lo que adquirieron una considerable elasticidad. Las rocas que forman la zona norte del plegamiento pertenecen a otros períodos geológicos más recientes: el Silúrico (443-416 millones de años) y el Devónico (416-359 millones de años). Estudios realizados por el geólogo José Ramón Martínez Catalán y otros investigadores sugieren que la formación de estos pliegues fue condicionada por la existencia de fallas que estuvieron activas en la zona durante el Ordovícico.

Conodonto del periodo Silúrico hallado en el sinclinal

Las rocas que conforman el sinclinal, por otro lado, encierran rastros biológicos del Paleozoico. Hace algunos años, el geólogo y paleontólogo Juan Carlos Gutiérrez-Marco localizó en la zona fósiles de conodontos y otras especies animales del Silúrico, algunas de ellas no identificadas hasta entonces. Se trata obviamente de fauna marina, la única existente en esa era geológica, cuando los terrenos que hoy constituyen las montañas del este de Galicia formaban parte de la plataforma continental de Gondwana, en el hemisferio sur.

Croquis del sinclinal (margen derecha del río Ferreiriño) realizado por Matte

Los primeros científicos que describieron esta formación fueron el alemán Wynfrith Riemer y el francés Philippe Matte, quien fue asesorado y apoyado en su investigación por el geólogo gallego Isidro Parga Pondal. Matte incluyó dibujos del sinclinal en un estudio publicado en 1968 y comparó esta estructura con los pliegues tumbados de los Alpes Peninos, en el sudoeste de Suiza. Formaciones de este tipo pueden verse también en los Pirineos y en otras partes del mundo, pero muy raramente presentan un tamaño comparable al del sinclinal del Courel a la vez que se distinguen con tanta nitidez.

Área declarada monumento natural

El área declarada monumento natural, de unas noventa hectáreas de extensión, se sitúa en la margen izquierda del río Ferreiriño, en una zona conocida como Penas das Franzas y Pena Falcoeira. Pero la formación geológica también se percibe en la margen izquierda del valle fluvial, en el monte llamado Penas dos Conventos (o también Os Recoxois), por el que discurre la carretera de Quiroga a Folgoso do Courel. El hecho de que la zona de protección no se haya extendido a esta parte del pliegue (que no es visible desde la carretera) ha dado lugar a protestas públicas.

Mirador geológico de Campodola (Foto Alberto López)

Mirador

Para facilitar la observación del sinclinal y promoverlo como atractivo turístico y como recurso educativo, el Ayuntamiento de Quiroga construyó en 2004 un mirador a la altura del kilómetro 9,5 de la carretera LU-651, cerca de un desvío que lleva al pueblo de Campodola. Es el primer mirador de Galicia construido expresamente para contemplar un monumento geológico y permite observar el plegamiento en una vista panorámica de más de dos kilómetros de extensión. Las rocas de tonos más claros son cuarcitas. Los estratos más oscuros y cubiertos de vegetación están formados por areniscas y pizarras. El mirador fue construido con areniscas y cuarcitas del periodo Cámbrico. 

Museo geológico
El museo municipal de geología y paleontología de Quiroga, inaugurado en 2011, dedica una de sus secciones al sinclinal de Campodola. Otras salas del museo se dedican a las huellas geológicas de la última glaciación, a la fauna del Cuaternario, a los poblamientos paleolíticos y a la actividad minera desarrollada en este territorio desde los tiempos del Imperio Romano.

Ruta de senderismo
Una ruta pedestre que une las aldeas de Leixazós, Campodola y Campos de Vila pasa al pie de la parte más espectacular del plegamiento.

 

Romanesque art and wines in Ribeira Sacra (Galicia)

Church of San Vicente de Pombeiro (Photo Alberto López)

 The Ribeira Sacra is a historical region located in the south of the province of Lugo and the north of the province of Ourense, well known for its importance in the world of wine making. One of the five wine appellations of Galicia, which now enjoys a growing fame, is established in this area, around the confluence of the rivers Minho and Sil. But this region is also notable for having the largest collection of Romanesque art in Galicia. In this area there are more than a hundred churches that retain its original Romanesque structure in a greater or lesser extent. All these temples were once part of medieval monasteries, now largely disappeared, whose origins date back to the early Middle Ages. Only the monastery of Santa Maria de Ferreira, in the town of Pantón, is still inhabited by a religious community of nuns of the Benedictine order.

Church of Atán (Photo Alberto López)

  

  The history of these ancient monasteries is closely related to the development of viticulture, a leading economic resource in this area during the Middle Ages. A local legend attributes to the Roman Empire the origins of wine culture in the region. But although it's often said that wines produced here were sent to Rome and served at the table of the Caesars, there is no historical or archaeological evidence of wine culture in this land in Roman times, even less that these wines were exported to the Italian peninsula. The oldest historical record about viticulture in the Ribeira Sacra is a document dated in the year 816 in the monastery of Santo Estevo de Atán, in the municipality of Pantón.

Church of Ribas de Minho (Photo Alberto López)

Another deep-rooted belief links the name of the Ribeira Sacra (which means, literally, Sacred Riverbank) with the presence of the  monasteries that existed for centuries on the banks of the Sil and Minho rivers. But according to the Galician philologist and historian Manuel Vidán Torreira, the origin of the name has a very different explanation. The oldest historical document which contains the name is the foundation charter of the monastery of Montederramo, written in the town of Allariz in August 1124, where is the phrase: in locum qui dicitur [in the place they call] Rivoira Sacrata. The Castilian Benedictine chronicler Antonio de Yepes (died in 1618), when he transcribed this document, thought that the words Rivoira Sacrata (that he mistranslated as Sacred Riverbank) referred to the banks of the river Sil. But Vidán Torreira explains that the word rivoira (or rovoyra, an alternative spelling that can be found in other documents of these times, from Latin robur) means oak tree or oak forest in Medieval Galician language. Antonio de Yepes mistakenly understood that the old document spoke of a «sacred bank» (in fact a «sacred tree» or a «sacred grove») and that mistake was repeated later by many others, originating the name that has lasted until today.

Vineyards on terraces in Sober (Photo Alberto López)

  In any case, it is true that in the region there were numerous monastic communities, some of them very powerful, like the Benedictine convent of Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil (in the municipality of Nogueira de Ramuín), now transformed in a parador or luxury hotel. It is also beyond doubt that the monks promoted the cultivation of grape wines on the steep banks of the Sil and Minho rivers, constructing the spectacular landscape of vineyards planted on terraces that characterizes the Ribeira Sacra. A landscape that, in the words of the Galician writer and geographer Ramón Otero Pedrayo, was modeled in an «unconsciously artistic way». Yet so far there are no accurate historical data on the origins of this kind of viticulture in the region.

Church of Santo Estevo de Ribas de Minho (Photo A. López)

  The great benefits of the wine trade explain the abundance and the artistic and architectural richness of the Romanesque monuments of this territory, where are churches such as Santo Estevo de Ribas de Minho (in the municipality of O Saviñao) of unusual dimensions for a small country town. This is in most cases a late and very mature Romanesque style. Some of these churches show a clear influence of the artistic school emerged around Master Mateo (or Matthew), the creator of the Pórtico da Glória of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, a world masterpiece of Romanesque art. Recent studies suggest that a group of former disciples of Matthew was moved to the middle reaches of the Minho River after completing the construction of the Cathedral of Santiago (around the year 1210) in order to build the monumental church of Portomarín, a small town located on the famous Way of St. James, at the northern end of the Ribeira Sacra. The stylistic imprint of this workshop can be seen in other churches that were built later in the same area.

TV / Video

The Romanesque heritage of Ribeira Sacra is featured in an episode of the documentary series Las claves del románico (Keys of the Romanesque art), produced by the Spanish public TV channel TVE-La 2. A video produced by the Provincial Council of Lugo shows some Romanesque churches in the municipality of O Saviñao (in Galician).  

Books

There are no studies nor guide books published in English about the Romanesque heritage of this region. A recent book in Spanish, Cuaderno del románico de la Ribeira Sacra, by Francisco Ruiz Aldereguía, describes numerous churches and several routes. The complex religious symbolism present in these monuments (especially in sculptures) is analyzed by the writer and historian Xosé Lois Garcia in his essays Simboloxía do románico de Pantón, Simboloxía do románico de Sober and Simboloxía do románico de Chantada (in Galician). Historian Sonia Fernández has studied the influence of Master Matthew's school in these monuments in the book San Esteban de Ribas de Miño: los talleres de filiación mateana (in Spanish). There is also information on the Romanesque churches of the area in the handbook Ribeira Sacra. Guía práctica, by Manuel Garrido (with editions in Spanish and Galician) and Orientarse pola Ribeira Sacra, a literary travel book by Gonzalo Xosé de Francisco da Rocha (in Galician).

 

Church of Bembibre, Taboada (Photo A. López)

Websites

A map edited by the Ecomuseum of Arxeriz (in the municipality of O Saviñao) shows the main points of interest of this monumental area. The webpage of the European Heritage Project features an article on the Romanesque heritage of the Ribeira Sacra (in English). The cultural association O Colado do Vento has published a brochure about the Romanesque heritage of the municipality of Sober (in Galician). Another association, Amigos do Románico da Comarca de Chantada, presents on its website a photo gallery of the Romanesque churches of the municipalities of Chantada, Taboada and Carballedo. The portal Arteguias.com has devoted a small section to this heritage (in Spanish). A calendar with pictures of churches and monasteries of the Ribeira Sacra of Ourense, edited by the association O Sorriso de Daniel, can be seen on this site. The portal Círculo Románico shows some pictures of the churches of Santo Estevo de Chouzán, San Miguel de Eiré, Santa María de Ferreira, San Paio de Diomondi, San Lourenzo de Fión, San Vicente de Pombeiro, San Xoán de Portomarín, Taboada dos Freires, San Facundo de Ribas de Minho, Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil and Santa Cristina de Ribas de Sil. The public company Turgalicia offers in his website a virtual tour in the cave church of the monastery of San Pedro de Rocas (in the municipality of Esgos), one of the oldest monastic foundations in the Ribeira Sacra and in Europe (6th century).

Church of Nogueira de Minho, Chantada (Photo Alberto López)

Museums
The Ribeira Sacra Wine Centre (in the city of Monforte de Lemos) houses a permanent exhibition on the history of viticulture in the area. The Ecomuseum of Arxeriz (municipality of O Saviñao) devotes a section to the wine traditions of the Ribeira Sacra. The ethnographical municipal museum of Quiroga also shows some old artifacts of wine making.

  

Church of San Xoán da Cova (Photo Alberto López)

Tourist routes

The company Maisqueromanico offers guided tours to these monuments, with service in several languages​​. In the area there is a Wine Route that includes wineries, lodgings and other establishments.