Laxe is a fishing village, presided over by the Church-fortress of Santa María de la Atalaya, in a maritime Gothic style. Its origin dates back to the 13th century but it was expanded in the 15th century by order of the Moscoso de Altamira county family, who dominated these lands, and more specifically by the wish of Doña Urraca de Moscoso's mother. In addition to being religious, its function was also defense and surveillance (watchtower) since its thick walls and buttresses provided protection in case of attacks by sea. It has a rich decoration in granite stone, which stands out for its medieval frieze located on the main altar, which contemplates five scenes of the Resurrection of Christ, and whose singularity makes it unique within the religious iconography of Galicia and Spain.
The “Vidal Photographic Archive” is a collection of 59,667 photographs in different media, the work of local photographers, Plácido Vidal Díaz (1867-1956), one of the first to introduce photography in the Costa da Morte region, and his son José Vidal García (1900-1988), the people's photographer. The value of this collection of photographs is given not only by its aesthetic values, but also by being an extraordinary source of graphic information for carrying out studies of economic, political, social, territorial history... These photographs comprise a fairly wide geographical and chronological space. since they cover the regions of Bergantiños and Soneira, and go from the end of the 19th century to the 70s of the 20th century, but the information they provide transcends purely local interest and is of interest to Galician culture in general.
The extraordinary historical and cultural value of both heritages has recently been recognized when they were declared Assets of Cultural Interest of Galicia.
On the commemorative Post Office stamp, we can see an old photograph of the Church of Santa María de la Atalaya de Laxe that was taken in its day by these local photographers, thus uniting these two heritages of the town hall of Laxe (A Coruña) in a tribute.
