Iria Flavia was a Roman settlement on the Via XIX and a river port when the Ría de Arousa extended farther inland. It probably acquired municipal status under Emperor Vespasian in the 1st century, and the name Flavia refers to his Flavian dynasty.
By the 6th century Iria was an episcopal seat. In the 820s, Bishop Teodomiro of Iria identified a tomb discovered at Libredón as that of Santiago and informed King Alfonso II, leading to the development of Santiago de Compostela as a pilgrimage centre.
What to see in Iria Flavia
Igrexa de Santa María
Santa María stands on the site of Iria's former episcopal church, although the present building largely dates from an early 18th-century reconstruction. Its unusual stepped towers were modelled on those of the Tesouro (Treasury) façade of the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. The adjoining Cemiterio de Adina was the first burial place of Rosalía de Castro and is also where Nobel Prize-winning novelist Camilo José Cela is buried.
