Information about Ferreira
Ferreira is a tiny village that belongs to the municipality of Palas de Rei, in the region of Ulloa. It is characterized by its Roman bridge, located on the road that linked Lugo with Iria Flavia.
Although Ferreira has little heritage of interest for the visitor, the life of the village has been revitalized with the passage of the pilgrims who travel the Primitive Way to Santiago de Compostela. Several shelters were built to give shelter to the walkers, as well as a boarding house and a canteen.
What to see and do in Ferreira
Church of Santa Eulalia of Bóveda
Pilgrims on the Primitive Way cannot reach Ferreira without visiting the Church of Santa Eulalia de Bóveda. It is located halfway through the stage with a perfectly signposted detour at the village of Uceira.
The church of Santa Eulalia de Bóveda, declared a Historic-Artistic Monument and an Asset of Cultural Interest, is a unique and enigmatic paleochristian temple, half-buried and shady. A rectangular enclosure with the appearance of a crypt which is accessed through a small portico with a horseshoe door and in which everything is quite unusual. Inside we find a pond and abundant murals on the walls full of birds, a stone on a pedestal whose function is not well defined.
Among the interpretations of the meaning of this place have been gaining ground those that identify it in origin with a construction of the same name.It was probably built to collect water, perhaps in the late Roman period. An intricate network of pipes under the pavement and the pool indicate this use, although we cannot say whether it was a temple, sanctuary, fountain, spa, pond or mausoleum.
Recently another even more adventurous theory about its original function has been proposed. It would be a space to perform, during the third and fourth centuries, rites dedicated to the Roman goddess Cybele.The ceremony of the taurobolium, during which a bull was sacrificed on the top floor of a building, the blood of the animal falling through an orifice to a lower floor, on the devotee or initiate, who either prayed for his health or other favours, consulted the oracle or, by virtue of the mystical properties of the baptism of blood, attained higher initiatory qualities.
Whatever its function, the truth is that it is a very worthwhile visit if you are doing the Primitive Way.
