Church of Fontarcada

The monastery was founded by a donation of D. Godinho Fafes (or Falifaz), father of the rich count D. Henrique, responsible for building the hunting-lodge of Fontarcada, in whose yard the church was built, possibly at the start of the 12th century.

[3] In 1450 king Afonso V of Portugal confirmed the monastery's privileges, five years before the archbishop of Braga Fernando da Guerra decided to convert it into an archdeaconry.

The external apse of the church is surrounded by three columns with carved capitals, below a cornice of Lombard arcades.

The bell tower is on the north side of the nave and has an open bell-chamber at the top and a pyramidal roof.

The lower of the two is a presbytery richly decorated with five pre-Romanesque blind arcades supported by vegetal columns (with traces of medieval frescoes),[4] while the upper one are decorations like doors, with archivolts on sober columns with worked capitals.