Habsburg and Bourbon Spain
Orense
Today: Spain
- Years
- 1492–1833
- Role
- Episcopal city, provincial capital from 1833
Orense lived through the 17th and 18th centuries in a quiet torpor, broken only by the works of the Church, whether at the bishops' request or by orders such as the Jesuits, who settled there in the mid-17th century. At the start of the 19th century it was a small city of hidalgos, artisans and clergy, among them Cardinal Quevedo, a deputy in the Cortes of Cádiz. Its designation as provincial capital, in 1833, brought a new class of civil servants.
What to see today
- Catedral de San Martiño de Ourense (Catedral de San Martín): Cathedral, 1499 to 1685
- Mosteiro de Santa María de Oseira (Monasterio de Santa María la Real de Osera): Monastery, c. 1552 to 1800
- Ponte Vella (Ponte Maior) (Puente Mayor): Bridge, c. 1660 to 1679
- Mosteiro de Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil (Monasterio de San Esteban de Ribas del Sil): Monastery, c. 1516 to 1739