Torres de Oeste, Catoira, Spain

Oeste Towers (Torres de Oeste) is located at the head of the Ría de Arousa. The towers remaining today are the ruins of Castellum Honesti. In the 9th century, King Alfonso III of Leon built the castle as a defense against Viking attacks. The two remaining towers are from this period, and have a pre-Roman style. Pre-Roman ceramics and bronze tools have been discovered at the site.

Two centuries later, King Alfonso V of Leon donates the fortress to the bishopric of Iria-Compostela, held at that moment by bishop Vestruarius. Subsequent bishops Cresconio, Diego Pelaez and Diego Gelmirez undertook the commitment to strengthen the Castle in order to protect the holy site of Santiago de Compostela. The structure of the Castle was defined in the 12th century. At that time, the enclosure of the Castle was formed by seven towers, and it was surrounded by marshes. The Castle has a 12th-century chapel built by Gelmirez to honor the apostle Saint James. The Castellum Honesti began its decline in the 15th century.

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Abbey of Saint-Georges

Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.

The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).

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