Balisa

The modern parish church of Balisa is dedicated to Saint Sebastian and was built on the remains of a Romanesque style church, of which only the semi-circular shaped presbytery has survived. The church has several seventeenth-century altarpieces, a carving of Saint Sebastian, a processional cross and a monstrance. It also has two shrines: the thirteenth century shrine of the Virgen del Otero with an image of the Virgin of the same name, and the ermita del Aguila, of which only the basements of the north and south walls survive. Balisa´s most important monument is the famous Bóton de Balisa, possibly a menhir, in any case a round granitic block almost four metres high, located in the town´s northeast; it appears on the town seal.