Portomarín is a small town located in the Province of Lugo. It is of about 1600 inhabitants and it is a major staging post of The Way of St. James. Its history has been linked to The Way but also to the Miño River and to the Roman Bridge that crosses the river.
Life in Portomarín changed when the Belesar Reservoir was built in 1963, with its hydroelectric plant about 30 kilometres downstream. The village in its entirety was flooded and a new village was built in Monte do Cristo. The Romanesque church of San Xoán (San Juan, Saint John), also called church of San Nicolás, was moved to the new village and rebuilt stone by stone the same as the church of San Pedro which was built in the tenth century. An arch of the Roman Bridge also was moved and today it is located at the entrance of Portomarín.
