Church
Igreja Matriz de Barrô
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Hernâni
August 27, 2013
Although we can date the foundation of the Church of Barrô back to the 12th century - as the private Church of Egas Moniz (1080-1146), the Schoolmaster and Governor of the first king of Portugal, D. Afonso Henriques, we know nothing about the time it was built or transformed, or if it was just a matter of giving continuity to a worship that was probably being practiced in an already existing temple. On the other hand, according to a different testimony by Pedro Gonçalves, the villa de Barriolo belonged entirely to the Monastery of Paço de Sousa (Penafiel). Therefore, there were many conflicting interests within this area (both from the church and territorial), although they all had a common link to the heritage of the Gascões lineage, to which Egas Moniz belonged. Here, on the banks of the Douro river, people believed that there were traces of a bridge commissioned by one of the royal Mafaldas. This tradition is echoed by the Vicar José Mendes de Azevedo, when he refers traces of pillars on both banks, namely on the opposite parish of Barqueiros. The parish Church was not the only religious centre in Barrô because, in the 17th century (in 1693) a group of nuns who took the Franciscan habit settled in the area; after this group had been extinct (in 1780) and the resisting nuns had been incorporated in the Convent of Stigmata, in Lamego, this became an important teaching centre during the 19th and 20th centuries. It was the Convent of Jesus-Mary-Joseph, referred to in 1758 as Claras urbanas.
Although we can date the foundation of the Church of Barrô back to the 12th century - as the private Church of Egas Moniz (1080-1146), the Schoolmaster and Governor of the first king of Portugal, D. Afonso Henriques, we know nothing about the time it was built or transformed, or if it was just a mat…
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