Puntos de Interés
Culture
St. Mary Magdalene Church
This church is located to the south of the village of Valle. Just a 4 kilometre walk from the town of Villamayor, it is one of the chapels that were formerly under the influence of the St. Mary of Villamayor Monastery.
The church's history began with the foundation of an oratory attended by Benedictine monks from the monastery. A century later, it was expanded to what is now the apse of the chapel, thus promoting public and private religious worship. Later, it was donated to the Church of Oviedo like other churches in the region. The rest of the building's current religious elements would be added in the eighteenth century. The apse was restored to its current version and the church was expanded with a sacristy, a nave, and a chapter house.
The outside has a bell tower with two belfries and bells on the inside. The austere whitewashed facade has two buttresses on the east side that serve to distribute the loads evenly.
The nave has no right angles compared to the chancel and is lower and wider. This makes this section of the church even more striking, as it can be accessed through a semicircular arch and you can view the ribbed vault above it. There you will find the altar and a neo-baroque altarpiece of carved wood mimicking its predecessor that was destroyed in the war.
To the south of the church is the local cemetery built at the end of the 19th century. It is connected to the church by an enclosed standing atrium.
An interesting fact is that it is here where the tithe was paid in linen, bread, corn, beans, apples, walnuts, hazelnuts, vegetable garden products, and other goods that could be of value to the priests. The town holds its festivities on July 22 dedicated to St. Mary of Magdalene. Solemn religious ceremonies are performed and traditions such as the Bread Bunch processions and traditional games are played like tug of war or the "ferraes" contest, which consists of a race with buckets of water over one's head. The records show that this has been going on since at least 1948. St. Lucia is also celebrated there on December 13.