-	All photographs of Monasteries

In order to become universal the galician people must be fully aware of their history, their own language and their cultural heritage.

The galician history has been deeply determined by the presence of the different religious ordains. In fact, it could not be possible to understand it without taking into account the great number of monasteries and ordains throughout the whole region. Its influence through religion, politics, the economy and architecture articulated the country, the galician society and the future of the region through the centuries.

In order to achive a social, economic and cultural development monasteries were set up to dinamize the different areas thus, besides its huge value as religious and architectural centres, they organized and coordinated the whole production's methods of a specific region.

The number and artistic quality of monasteries in Galicia is indisputable: it is said that the 'Ribeira Sacra', the Holy Bank, is the european region with the highest number of monasteries per square kilometre. Althought this statement is may be hard to check we will always be able to visit them: Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil, San Pedro de Rocas, Santa Cristina, Monastery of Caaveiro, etc. The richness is in such a way that all of them have been awarded as monuments of historic and cultural interest. They belonged to the different ordains: franciscans, benedictans, dominicans although all of them had the same assignment, to instil the faith into God.