INTRODUCTION

The municipality of Muros is located at the north-western tip of the Ría de Muros e Noia, the northernmost of the Rías Baixas. Like most Galician municipalities, Muros has a large number of population centres. The municipal area covers 72.5 km² and is divided into eight parishes (Esteiro, Tal, Abelleira, Torea, Serres, Sestaio, Muros and Louro), across which a total of 104 settlements are distributed according to the Galician Nomenclature.

Our extensive and indented coastline has a great variety of beaches, some almost untouched, stretching along the coastline and accounting for 32.46% of the total coastal length.

Historic Quarter: Historical Context

The town of Muros was declared a Historic Quarter in 1970.

It was founded by King Sancho IV in the 13th century (1286), but by the late 13th century it ceased to be a royal town, falling under the authority of the See of Compostela by concession of King Fernando IV (1299). This information is recorded in the Royal Charter of Privilege of Philip II, dated 1571 (a parchment document preserved in the historical archive of the Muros Town Hall), an invaluable written record.

It is believed that the original Muros occupied the same site as the present town, a location chosen for defensive reasons against possible pirate attacks, as the village could apparently not be seen from the bay, facilitating defence and the escape of the population if necessary.

In 1520, the town was surrounded by a stone-clad wall between three and four metres thick, reaching seven metres in height, dividing the population into two districts: A Cerca and A Xesta.

The history of Muros cannot be separated from the commercial importance of its port and the sea. In 1452, the King of Castile, John II, referred to the port of Muros as one of the greatest in Galicia, licensing it to export and import.

An event of great historical importance took place in 1543, when the Spanish Armada, under Admiral D. Álvaro de Bazán, defeated the French fleet in the Battle of Muros. The naval combat barely lasted two hours, but the French defeat was total, and it went down in history as the first modern battle of the Atlantic.

A significant maritime event was the wreck of the Spanish Navy warship "Cardenal Cisneros" in the waters of Muros, on 28 October 1905. This earned the town the title "Most Humanitarian", bestowed in 1906 by King Alfonso XIII, as the people of Muros not only saved from drowning more than 500 men of the crew, but also sheltered them for several days in their homes. This new title was added to "Most Noble and Most Loyal", which had previously been conferred.