MENS
Moscoso's clan lands
 
 
 
 
Small parish inhabited by half thousand people dedicated to agriculture and fishing, Mens was an important noble town in the Middle Ages :  Santiago's Archbishopric, the Crown, and the Counts of Altamira
fought for its castle and church.
 
Galician medieval architecture 

Mens' church is mentioned in Urraca Fernandes de Traba's testament in the year 1199. The temple was erected in 1134 as monastery property of San Martino Pinario in Santiago, though it belonged therefore to the Colegiata of Corunna. The church is a National Historical-Artistic Monument and has got very interesting architectural characteristics. Just have a look at the interesting stone figures carved up on the outside walls of the apsis. Inside the church there are some medieval paintings discovered when the coat of limestone that once covered them during the Black Plague peeled off. A centuries old wooden Santiago statue also stands in this romanic church. Once a year, the old monastic church celebrates the Noites Musicais (Night and Music), famous music encounters celebrated every summer in this historical environment. Another festivity of great importance in the village is Santiago de Mens in July.  
  
Mens' castle is an old estate of the Moscoso's clan. The family controlled from here the north of the land of Bergantinos. The castle was destroyed during the Irmandinos' war in 1467 but it was rebuilt some years later. The fortification, which conserves today the defensive wall and three square towers, is a good example of the XV century Galician civil architecture. Mens' inhabitants believe that an underground tunnel communicates the castle with the church and they tell fantastic legends about this speculation. 

 
 
 
Bergantinos' beautiful sea 
  
The lands of Mens offer pleasing moments of rest and it is possible to enjoy the tranquility of small unknown beaches. In the Barizo's parish, there is a beach and a sheltered harbour. Near from there lies the sandbank and estuary of Seiruga with the ancient Celtic settlement of Ponta Galeana. Barizo conserves vestiges of an elegant past in some emblazoned house and in the church, and another noble house is found in Cores, on the road from Malpica to Ponte-Ceso.  

Barizo and Mens are the starting point for a beautiful excursion in the hills of Nariga. In the end of the cape was built an original electric lighthouse in form of ship prow that has received an award from the European Union. The building immortalizes the thousands of cargo carriers that night and day navigate in the Costa da Morte sea. The lighthouse was conceived to increase the security of the uninhabited coast between the Cape Roncudo and the Isles Sisargas. In the peninsula of Nariga are found as well the small isles of Lago, the beautiful virgin beaches of Ninons and Morro, and lots of mysterious rocks modeled in capricious forms.

More information (Council of Malpica) :  
Concello de Malpica : Rua Emilio Gonzalez, 1 / +34 981 72 03 18