In 2025, two stamps dedicated to Spain's artistic heritage will be issued: the Church of San Salvador de Vilar das Donas, in Palas de Rei (Lugo), and the Revellín Gate (Logroño). The name "Vilar das Donas," translated into Spanish as "Place of the Ladies," comes from "Vilar," meaning houses with farmland, a typical medieval settlement, and "Donas," referring to some of its first tenants. The parish of Vilar das Donas is one of the 43 parishes in the Palas de Rei Municipality, in the "A Ulloa" region. It lies at an altitude ranging from 600 to 700 meters and covers an area of approximately 10 square kilometers. Its population of just over 100 is spread across 22 towns or villages, with a few more remaining uninhabited. Its history is linked to that of its Monastery, built around the year 1140 on what was a small Chapel called San Lorenzo, founded by the parents of Juan Arias, of the Arias Pérez de Monterroso family, of the Sirgal Castle. At first it is believed that it was a Monastery of Bernardine Nuns. In 1184 or 1194 it was donated to the Order of Santiago by Juan Arias and in 1382 it was taken under the protection of King John I.
Based on donations and other contributions it achieved great importance during the 13th, 14th and first half of the 15th centuries, its domain reaching to encompass the center of Galicia with properties and churches in the four Galician provinces. The crisis that it suffered in the middle of the 16th century In the 15th century, its properties and domain were progressively reduced and in 1746 it left the Order of Santiago and became dependent on the Priory of San Marcos de León. Later, with the confiscation of Mendizábal, it became a rural parish, which is today the Parish of Vilar das Donas. The church called San Salvador was built between 1224 and 1245 in four distinct phases as a Monastery church (currently a Parish Church). On the lintel of the sacristy door is an inscription "It was one thousand two hundred and sixty-two and day of the Ides of Autumn" (year 1224 of the Hispanic era, 15th of Autumn). It is Romanesque in style although it shows clear Gothic nuances, its floor plan is a Latin cross, its orientation being east-west. It was declared a Historic-Artistic Monument in 1931, being the only one in the region of A Ulloa. On the façade, a door with a flared semicircular arch with five archivolts profusely decorated with Romanesque and Gothic motifs.
The door fittings are very similar to those of the north door of Lugo Cathedral and some of the oldest in the province of Lugo. Above this, the church culminates a Baroque bell gable with two bells. Inside, sepulchral pieces of knights of the Order of Santiago and members of noble families of the region, highlighting the sarcophagus of D. Fernas Ares Noguerol (ERA MCCCXVI - Year 1378). A Flamboyant Gothic style baldachin, built at the expense of the nobleman Álvaro Piñeiro between 1494 and 1498. At its top is a castle reminiscent of the nearby Pambre castle. A 16th-century Renaissance-style stone altarpiece depicts the descent of Christ from the cross and the Mass at the moment of consecration, surrounded by a chalice, in bas-relief, with the instruments of Christ's passion in the background. This is one of the few altarpieces of this type preserved in Galicia. In the right arm of the church, a Baroque-style altarpiece in polychrome wood from the late 17th century, near these three stone figures: Saint Michael, Saint Bartholomew, and a Virgin and Child, which were on the façade's rain gutter until the beginning of the 21st century. In the interior of the church we can also find other carved pieces. But the most important are the mural paintings of the Central Apse, considered one of the most important pictorial samples discovered in Galicia and that D. Alvaro Cunqueiro, baptized as “The Galician Sistine Chapel“. Applied using the tempera technique on a thin layer of plaster, they date from the late 14th and early 15th centuries and are attributed to several authors, one of whom wrote: “ENNO ANO DE MILL CCCC XXXIV (ANOS) (1.434) PETRUS NUNI (or MUNI) DE TURIS (Sun BURIS) ME FECIT“. Their main theme is the Annunciation. DOCUMENTATION AND INTERPRETATION CENTER FOR THE ULLOA REGION Vilar das Donas Revellín Gate: As a border town between the kingdoms of Castile and Navarre, Logroño had a wall surrounding its perimeter, which constituted its main defensive system, along with a fortress at the head of the bridge over the Ebro.
In 1521, it was besieged by the Franco-Navarrese troops of Francis I, led by André de Foix. Although the siege was lifted and the enemy troops defeated at Noain a few days later, Emperor Charles ordered the reinforcement of the defensive system of Logroño, a city considered the Gateway to Castile. Thus, an artillery tower, a new stretch of wall, and a new gate were built in the western part of the city: the Revellín Tower and Gate. This construction was carried out, with a variety of funding sources (Atienza salt mines, Avilés granary, the Marshal of Navarre's oath, chamber penalties, among others) between 1522 and 1524, with some completion in 1525. The construction of the adjacent wall took longer. The wall is built with isodomous ashlar stone, laid out in rows on both sides. The gate has a large, lobed, segmented arch over which a taller section protrudes. The front features sculpted heraldic decoration: three coats of arms, with that of King Charles in the center (with the double-headed eagle), flanked on either side by smaller coats of arms, representing a municipal coat of arms of Logroño with three fleurs-de-lis and another, much deteriorated, which appears to be its twin. The entire structure is bordered by a molding decorated with balls. The Revellín Gate was also known as the Camino Gate, as the Camino de Santiago passes through it and overlooks the Royal Road of Castile. It is a very significant part of Logroño, a true symbol of the city's identity.
