Although it was built as part of an old Jesuit college, the Church of Santa Eufemia has been, since 1767, the parish church of the diocese of Ourense, coinciding with the expulsion of the religious order from Spain. Its facade, the work of Fray Plácido Iglesias, is an archetype of Galician baroque. It combines sumptuousness, the use of curved lines, and the play of light in its recesses and projections with the most typical details of Galician art: the use of granite, the giant order of the columns, the pinnacles, or the split pediment with a cross. Its peculiar concave shape is striking: it is possibly a resource used to give greater monumentality to a facade confined in a narrow street. It would not be until several years later that the square it presides over today was ordered and built, connecting it with the neighboring Cathedral. The second largest church in the city, whose facade is a magnificent example of Galician baroque. The works of the Church of Santa Eufemia began in the mid-17th century by private foundation, although its facade was not completed until a century later. Vaults and dome are from the 19th century, and in the 20th century, it was completed with the sculpture that adorns the central niche, the image of Santa Eufemia, the parish’s patron saint and a saint of great devotion in the city. The figure is the work of Xosé Cid and dates from 1985, while the bell tower is from 1989. After the Cathedral, it is the second largest church in Ourense. The interior, very austere, has a Latin cross plan with three longitudinal naves, the lateral ones being lower. A large baroque altar presides over the church with the Christ of Hope in the center (18th century). The building adjacent to the right was built as a school to study Grammar; it has subsequently been an institute, museum, seminary, and currently a priestly residence. According to tradition, the Saint evangelized in the O Xurés area and therefore suffered martyrdom during the time of Emperor Hadrian. She was buried in the place that today is called Sierra de Santa Eufemia. Centuries later, in the year 1060, a shepherdess discovered the tomb from which a hand emerged, took her ring, and upon putting it on, lost her speech, which she regained upon returning the jewel to the saint. A voice was then heard saying that Santa Eufemia was buried there. Thus began the disputes between the dioceses, as the place was halfway between Braga and Ourense. It was decided to place the body on a cart pulled by an ox and bury the saint in the place where it headed. It was Ourense, and thus the prominence that Santa Eufemia receives both in this church and in the Cathedral is explained, where this story is still evoked in a collateral altar of the main chapel.