The College of Nosa Señora da Antiga is located in the town of Monforte de Lemos, in the Ribeira Sacra. Built in the Herreriano style, the school is often known as El Escorial of Galicia, being of the few manifestations of this style in this community.
It is forever linked to the figure of its founder, Cardinal Rodrigo de Castro, perhaps the last great ecclesiastical prince of the Renaissance in Spain, Archbishop of Seville, great benefactor of Monforte, and patron of the arts.
The college was a Seminary until 1773 and later a University, displaying up to seven chairs in a time when it was not yet established in the province. Originally run by the Jesuits, their order was expelled from Spain, through the Pragmatic Sanction of 1767 led to the elimination of any existing symbol to remember their existence in the country.