Santa Eufemia de Ambía

Location. Santa Eufemia de Ambía in the parish of Santo Estevo de Ambía.

Type of monument. Early-medieval Christian chapel. Of architectural, artistic, historical, religious and ethnographic interest.

Dating. 9th century. Early Middle Ages.

Description
Pre-Romanesque chapel from the 9th century with Mozarabic influence. Chronologically, it is related to two other chapels of the same style in the lands of Ourense:
Santa Comba (municipality of Bande) and San Miguel (on the grounds of the current Monastery of San Rosendo in Celanova).

In few places can you find a similar concentration of architectural-religious heritage, in the early European Middle Ages; with the peculiarities of the peninsular style, marked by the influence of the Mozarabic culture.

The ground plan of the chapel consists of a single nave with a rectangular apse that was divided into three chapels. We can see the beginnings of two double horseshoe arches that formed part of the three original naves.
Inside there is an altar of Roman origin (under the Roman Empire) and a wood carved crucified Christ of medieval-Roman origin.

From the Roman period, the so-called ‘Fonte das Ninfas’ (Fountain of the Nymphs) is found in the surroundings of Santa Eufemia, the place where the altar that today is inside the chapel of Santa Eufemia would have come from.

Timetables: Ask at the surroundings, they have the key there and they like to show the church.

Although it is not on the road, it is a building well worth a visit.