Tui Old Window

Tui/Tuy- Galiza, Espanha/Spain

Sta.Maria Cathedral View I [link]

Cathedral and River View [link]

Monastery Garden Door [link]

Inside Monastery Garden [link]

Inside Monastery Garden II [link]

Inside Monastery Garden III [link]

Catedral de Santa Maria I [link]

Catedral Sta Maria I - Detail [link]

Catedral de Santa Maria II [link]

So Simple....and So Beautiful [link]

Sta.Maria Cathedral Flower [link]


- MY IMAGES MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT MY WRITTEN PERMISSION -

Tui na Galiza, é um município raiano da Espanha na comarca do Baixo Minho, província de Pontevedra, comunidade autónoma da Galiza. A fronteira Espanha-Portugal, conhecida pelo epíteto de A Raia (em espanhol: La Raya), é a linha que divide os territórios de Portugal e Espanha. É uma das mais antigas fronteiras da Europa, com alguns limites estabelecidos desde o tempo do Condado Portucalense e do Reino de Leão.
De uma forma mais ampla, a raia é igualmente o espaço geográfico, de um e de outro lado da fronteira política, em que as populações partilham elementos históricos, lingüísticos, culturais e económicos.
Durante a dominação sueva da Península Ibérica, Tui converteu-se em sede epíscopal


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Tui is a town in Galicia (Spain), in the province of Pontevedra, , and is located on the bank of the Minho River, facing the Portuguese town of Valença. The name of the town is spelled Tui in both Galician and Portuguese, and Tuy in Spanish (Named as Tude by Romans)
During the Visigothic period, it briefly served as the capital of a Galician subkingdom under Wittiza.
After the campaigns of Afonso I of Asturias (739-757) against the Moors, the town lay abandoned in the largely empty buffer zone between Moors and Christians known at the time as "The Desert of the Duero" and was part of the "Repoblación" (repopulation) effort carried out a century later, during the reign of Ordoño I of Asturias (850-866).
Today the town centre is near the Inn of San Telmo. Two bridges connect Tui and Valença,in Portugal: Tui International Bridge (known in Portugal as Valença International Bridge), completed in 1878 under the direction of Gustave Eiffel, and a modern one from the 1990s. Both countries being signatories of the Schengen Treaty, there are normally no formalities in crossing what is the busiest border-point in Northern Portugal.
On the top of the hill, the cathedral (XII-XIII century) preserves the Romanic period in its main vestibule, and the Gothic period in the western vestibule. Tui cathedral, unlike the basilicas of Pontevedra, Ferrol and Vigo, is exactly that (a real cathedral) and Tui can genuinely lay claim to the title of city. The building was consecrated in 1225 AD during the monarchy of King Alfonso, but building work started over a century earlier. The cathedral really is a monumental structure and its position, on top of a hill at the summit of the town, makes it the emblem of the city. The building is actually a castle cathedral and the walls are adorned with battlements and fortifications, some dating back to the year 1120 AD when building work first commenced.
Once close to the cathedral it becomes impossible to get that all encompassing view. The cathedral is surrounded by other buildings and that, combined with its shear size, mean that you only ever manage restricted glimpses of certain sections of the construction. The proportions of the building are however not lost and its scale and grandeur remain just as imposing as you stand in front of the main portico. This portico has aesthetic and historic importance. As a piece of architecture and masonry it is incredibly detailed and one awes at the thousands of man hours that must have gone into its making, but it also represents the first instance of Gothic art in Spain. Other elements of the building are also Gothic, but the oldest sections and main architectural styling are Romanesque.
Once inside the cathedral the internal embellishments are more than equal to those of the façades. The cathedral has a small museum (in the chapel of Saint Catherine), but it is the cloisters (see the photo), vaulting, columns, altars and stone and timber carvings that impress the most. A massive organ and choir are other important features, but it is the overall scale and spectacle that make the biggest impression. Unusually, flash photography is allowed in all areas.
Once you have wondered around the numerous chapels and admired the glistening altars, a stair off the main cloister takes you up into the building or out and into a mirador (viewing point). Both options offer great views across to Portugal and the town of Valenca with the river Mihno below.
If you climb the stair up to the battlements you walk around and above the main cloister and also gain another perspective on the scale of the cathedral. [link]