Official Portal of Tourism. Junta de Castilla y Leon

In the 10th century, Abbot Martino and a group of Mozarabic monks from San Cebrián de Mazote (Valladolid) founded the Monastery of San Martín de 'Castaneira' or 'Castiñeira', taking advantage, according to findings and testimonies, of the structures of another Visigothic foundation . They reach their peak in the 12th century when they joined the Order of the Cluny.

With the arrival to the Iberian Peninsula of the Benedictine Reformation, he will belong to the Cistercian Order, naming Pedro Cristino abbot (1150), who will carry out important works in the monastic complex. With the Cistercian rule is when most of the construction work of the Monastery Church (12th century) and other dependencies are carried out.

The granite seating and slate stand out as construction material. On the western or western façade there is a folded arch and a protogothic rose window, in addition to the main portal that is embedded in the year 1571. The relief of the titular saint, San Martín, appears who shares his cape with the beggar and the inscription of the primitive foundation.

Declared a Historic-Artistic Monument, the Monastery of San Martín de Castañeda is the only one of the Cistercian monasteries in Zamorano founded on a mountain whose period of splendor in the 12th and 13th centuries led it to dominate the entire Sanabria Valley. The only temple preserved intact of the Cistercian monasteries that existed in the province.

In its dependencies you can visit an exhibition on San Martín de Castañeda, ethnography, Unamuno, a sample of recovered sacred art and information on the Atlantic Romanesque Plan. You can visit the church.