Church of Santa María de Sábada
Chapter 1/9 · Lastres
Welcome to Lastres, Llastres in Asturian and in its official name, a fishing village in the municipality of Colunga! We start next to the Church of Santa María de Sábada, at the upper entrance to the village. The walk is a circular route on foot of about two kilometres, but with plenty of slopes and steps: there are about 80 metres of height difference between this church and the harbour. We will come back to this same spot.
Sábada was the old name of the place, and the first written document that mentions it dates from 943. The village began to grow in the 13th and 14th centuries, when families from nearby Luces came down to the bay to make a living from the sea. Its historic centre has been a Site of Cultural Interest since 1992, in 2010 it received the Exemplary Village of Asturias Award, and since 2014 it has belonged to the association of the Most Beautiful Villages in Spain.
This church replaced the original parish church, which stood in the valley of the Austera river, far from the harbour and damaged by damp. The villagers chose this site, called El Fontanín, in 1752, after a lawsuit with the people of Luces that lasted until 1754, and the building work was put out to tender in 1757. Its design is traditionally attributed to Manuel Reguera and Joaquín Vigil, although recent studies link it to Pedro Antonio Menéndez. The large bell tower was paid for in the 1790s by José Antonio Robledo Colunga, a native of Lastres who had emigrated to Peru.
The church has a Latin cross plan and is listed as a Historic-Artistic Monument. Inside, two altarpieces by the brothers Agustín and Miguel López Acevedo stand out, together with a very expressive Renaissance crucifix carved in wood. Next to the entrance you will see a crucero, a stone cross like those raised at crossroads in Asturias in the 17th and 18th centuries.
First we go to the San Roque Chapel and Viewpoint, at the top of the village, to see the whole village before exploring it.
Start · Lastres