The
Carme de Abaixo Church
is an ecclesiastical monument whose origin dates from the eighteenth century and is located on the street of the same name.
This religious building dates back to the 18th century and was erected between 1760 and 1773 over a small chapel.
The temple is also known for the memory of a laundry that bordered the building, which dates back to the 19th century.
At that time, the existence of this type of elements contributed to improve the quality of life of the neighbors, prior to the arrival of the water supply in the homes of the locality.
The construction, like many other temples in the city, took place in several phases: the first one between 1750 and 1773 and the second one from 1867 onwards.
The Iglesia do Carme de Abaixo is a classicist baroque temple with a single rectangular nave, a classic gabled roof and a circular lantern located in the center of the building.
This monument, located in the vicinity of the Sarela River, suffered the effects of a harsh economic period at that time. Problems with the availability of resources made it necessary to adapt the initial project, signed by architect Lucas Ferro Caaveiro.
Therefore, austerity marked the period in which the completion of the temple materialized, adding elements as time went by.
In 1867, Baltasar Ferreiro was in charge of a new enlargement, in which a new presbytery was added and the conversion of the original into a transept. During the construction, the characteristic stamp of the Compostela baroque was lost and the work resulted in a temple of an eminently rural character.
The facade, built in granite masonry, consists of three vertical bodies framed by pilasters and three horizontal bodies.
The first of them, with a lintel doorway, while the second has a niche flanked by columns and topped with a semicircular arch, which houses the image of the Virgen del Carmen.
Finally, at the top, a shield framed by a semicircular pediment was installed.
The bell tower crowns the complex, with a quadrangular plan decorated and topped with pinnacles and volutes.
The temple is available for visitation as a regular place of worship.
