Mondoñedo occupies a sheltered valley among the northern outliers of the Cantabrian Mountains.

[2] Despite being the core of the region of A Mariña Central, it is the city with the fifth biggest population after Viveiro, Ribadeo, Foz and Burela.

Mondoñedo is first mentioned during the rule of king Ordoño I of Asturias in 858; It was taken by surprise by the French in 1809[2] during the Napoleonic Wars.

It reflects an unusual mixture of styles: Gothic in the nave and the aisles, and Baroque in its 18th-century towers.

The polychrome statue in the high altar, called Nuestra Señora la Inglesa (the English Madonna) was rescued from St Paul's Cathedral in London during the Protestant Reformation of Henry VIII of England.