Laudas Gremiais Museum

En la Iglesia de Santa María A Nova (siglo XIV), representativa de la arquitectura gótica marinera y en la actualidad desacralizada, encontramos uno de los museo más singulares del mundo: se trata de un museo de laudas (lápidas sepulcrales).

In the Church of Santa María A Nova (14th century), representative of seafaring Gothic architecture and now deconsecrated, we find one of the most unique museums in the world: a museum of laudas (tombstones).

The site houses a large collection of rectangular-shaped stone slabs that used to cover the tombs of the dead and are remarkable for their inscriptions, markings and engravings. The most important are those whose signs or symbols reveal information about the deceased, such as the guild of craftsmen to which they belonged (the scissors and the measuring rod belonged to the tailor, the shell to the sailor, the feet to the shoemaker…), or those of heraldry and figures in relief indicating the family of origin.

One of the most convincing explanations is that in the historical period in which the tombstones are located, from the 14th to the 19th centuries, most people did not know how to read, and so this symbolism of trades and family made it possible to recognise to whom the tomb belonged.

This set of tombstones, due to its special singularity, is the one that gives its name to the enclosure, which is one of the largest and most representative of Noia.