Praza do Tapal

Located in the high part of the town, in this space, which is now occupied by a square, there used to be a primitive fortified settlement before the city wall was built in the 14^th century. Inside there was a fort called La Mitra and the Pazo dos Churruchao –all that remains of the latter building is a wall featuring an elegant Gothic window. The square’s present-day appearance is due to a construction project in the mid-20^th century that demolished the remains of the fort, extended the square and made the façade of San Martín more prominent; the Gothic stone cross was also brought here from the village of Ponte Nafonso at that time.

The history of Praza do Tapal takes us back to the Middle Ages with the execution of Ruy Soga de Lobeira, the main verger of Santiago Cathedral in the 14^th century, to the “Irmandiña” uprising against Tapal Castle and, in the 20^th century, its name evokes the death of the director Claudio Guerín –when he was filming The Bell from Hell, while supervising a scene from the top of the church, he slipped off the cornice and landed at the foot of the stairs, where a cross on the ground commemorates this sad incident. Curiously, the old legends related to the unfinished tower of San Martín feature one that declared that anyone that tried to finish the tower would die.

Other squares were erected close to this one, serving as meeting places from a social point of view, as well as for business purposes, namely Praza da Constitución, Fanequeira and Cantón.