What to see in Corcubión

Corcubion, land of calm and bravery

Cultural Heritage

BARNS

Ethnological heritage

The barns (hórreos in Spanish) are, together with the mills, the most important functional constructions related to the traditional economy based on the cultivation of grain. Their most remote origin would be in the systems used by the the castro villages to keep the grain dry and isolated from the humidity of the soil: baskets hung or raised on feet. The first documentary references are from the Roman period (Vituvio or Pliny the Elder) and in Varron's writings (1st century BC) they are described in a similar way to the present day.

As a place where the fruits of the whole year work are kept, great attention is paid to the quality of the materials and their location, to guarantee good aeration of the grain.

The barn is a faithful reflection of its owner's economic situation; its capacity is measured by the number of feet. It can be a single or shared property; in the latter case, several doors are open to it.

In Corcubión the barn of Fisterra’s type predominates, although sometimes it is mixed with elements of those that can be found in Noia.

As for the function of these elements there is a wide theorisation about their aesthetic or mythical-religious function. According to the study on the Galician barns of Martínez Rodríguez, the presence of a cross and other religious emblems in the tops of the barns would be one more consequence of the religiosity of the Galician villager who puts the harvest under the protection of his gods to whom he invokes by consecrating the barn with the symbol of the cross or other similar ones.

The presence of masonry barns made entirely of cement in Redonda and A Oliveira should be noted. They are of the type of barn not suspended, but they are supported on a barn of the same dimensions as the chamber.

In Corcubión there are 14 such buildings listed.