Catedral de Santiago de Compostela

The grand heart of Santiago, the cathedral soars above town at a glorious mess of spires and palaces. Built piecemeal over several years, its own beauty can be a mixture of their original Romanesque structure (assembled between 1075 and 1211) and later Gothic and baroque flourishes. The grave of Santiago beneath the main altar can be a magnet for all who are here. The cathedral’s artistic highpoint could be that the Pórtico de la Gloria in the west entrance, featuring 200 masterly Romanesque sculptures.
Praza do Obradoiro

The grand square facing the cathedral’s western facade earned its name (Workshop Sq) in the stonemasons’ workshops put up here whether the cathedral was being constructed. It is free of traffic and cafes, and has a distinctive, magical atmosphere.
Stretching across the northern end of this praza, that the Renaissance-style Hostal dos Reis Católicos was Constructed from the early 16th century with the Catholic Monarchs, Isabel and Fernando, as a recuperation center for exhausted pilgrims. Today it is a parador (luxurious state-owned hotel) and lands well-heeled travellers instead, however its own four courtyards and various other areas are available to people: the one-way excursion, together with leaflet and more than 40 information panels, will be well worth.
Museo da Catedral

The Cathedral Museum spreads across four floors and incorporates the cathedral’s large 16th-century Gothic/plateresque cloister. You will observe a sizeable part of Maestro Mateo’s original carved-stone choir (ruined in 1604 but pieced back in 1999), an astonishing group of religious art (such as the botafumeiros from the 2nd-floor library)and also the lavishly decorated 18th-century sala capitular (chapter house)and also a room of tapestries woven from layouts from Goya, and, away the cloister, the Panteón p Reyes, together with tombs of kings of medieval León.
Museo das Peregrinacións e de Santiago

The brightly displayed Museum of Pilgrimages & Santiago provides fascinating insights to the occurrence of Santiago (man, city and pilgrimage) the centuries. Much of the explanatory material is in English as well as Spanish and Galician. There are also great close-up perspectives of a number of their cathedral’s towers in the 3rd-floor windows.
Among the very illuminating segments are those dedicated to this changing image of Santiago the man as the generations passed — out of apostle and martyr into pilgrim to beating knight — and into the arrangement of distinct buildings around the cathedral website, from Roman mausoleum to cathedral via three smaller medieval churches, along using really useful versions and illustrations.
Hostal dos Reis Católicos

Stretching across the northern end of Praza do Obradoiro, the Hostal dos Reis Católicos was constructed from the early 16th century with the Catholic Monarchs, Isabel and Fernando, as a recuperation center for exhausted pilgrims. Later it became an orphanage and poorhouse. Today it is a parador (luxurious state-owned hotel) and lands well-heeled travellers instead, however its own four courtyards and various other areas are available to people: the one-way excursion, together with leaflet and more than 40 information panels, will be well worth.
Mosteiro de San Martiño Pinario

This massive baroque monastery looming over Praza da Inmaculada is presently a seminary, and its own central segments, for instance, grand cloister, aren’t available to people — but its tremendous church, together with spectacular decoration, is available as part of a museum that’s worth a trip (input in the plaza’s upper end). The church centrepiece is the exceptionally ornate main altarpiece, encrusted with carved saints, cherubim, flowersplants, horses and bishops. The walnut choir stalls behind this also warrant close inspection.
Museo do Pobo Galego

This tradition in a former convent is a fascinating window to traditional Galician ways of existence that still live in certain rural areas. Displays range over audio, agriculture, architecture, fishing and much more, with displays like fishing boats, bagpipes, costumes and antique printing presses. The top floors are accessed through an extraordinary double sided spiral staircase made by Domingo de Andrade around 1700. Underneath the museum, the Parque de San Domingos de Bonaval is a beautiful, tranquil retreat from the Santiago bustle.
Praza da Quintana

Broad Praza da Quintana opens outside the cathedral’s eastern end. The cathedral’s Puerta Santa this can be started just in sacred years (following in 2021): it is flanked by 24 Romanesque sculptures of biblical characters that were formerly part of the cathedral’s original stone choir, created by Maestro Mateo and his team at the late 12th century.”
The plaza’s east side is lined with the lengthy, stark wall of this Mosteiro de San Paio de Antealtares, situated in the 9th century for those monks who appeared after Santiago’s relics (currently a convent). Its own Museo de Arte Sacra, accessed via the convent church at the peak of the plaza measures that contains the original altar raised on people relics.
Pazo de Xelmírez

The Pazo p Xelmírez is your 12th-century bishop’s palace adjoining the cathedral’s north . It exhibits what are frequently quite interesting temporary exhibitions related to the cathedral. The banquet hall is adorned with lovely small wall busts including musicians, bakers, feasters, kings and jugglers. Admission is included with tickets to your Museo da Catedral or even cathedral rooftop excursion .
Praza das Praterías

‘Silversmiths’ Sq’ is marked by an elegant 1825 fountain, ” the Fuente de los Caballos, a popular photo op, with the cathedral’s Romanesque south portal at the peak of those steps. Oddly, the baroque Casa perform Cabido, to the low side of this square, isn’t any further than a 3m-deep facade, built from the 1750s to decorate the plaza.
Praza de Fonseca

South of this cathedral, remain at cafe-lined Praza de Fonseca to start looking in the Colexio de Fonseca having its own beautiful Renaissance courtyard; that was the original seat of Santiago’s university (founded in 1495) and currently houses the university’s main library. Its Gothic chapel and Salón Artesonado, both sides of this entrance, house assorted temporary displays.
Puerta Santa

The cathedral’s Puerta Santa, providing access to this cathedral from Praza da Quintana, is started just in sacred years (alongside in 2021). Constructed between 1611 and 1616, it is flanked on the exterior 24 Romanesque sculptures of biblical characters transferred here in the cathedral’s original stone choir, created by Maestro Mateo and his team from the late 12th century, that was hauled down in 1604.
Museo de Arte Sacra

The Sacred Art Museum, accessed via the church of this Mosteiro de San Paio p Antealtares, contains the original altar raised over Santiago’s relics. The church is made of relatively straightforward design and style, except because of the main altar, a frenzy of gilded baroque. You can drop at 7.30pm (8pm Saturday and Sunday) to hear that the nuns singing vespers.
Colexio de San Xerome

At Praza do Obradoiro’s south end stands at the Colegio de San Xerome, a former faculty for the bad that is currently the rectorate at Santiago University. This 17th-century construction has a 15th-century Romanesque/Gothic portal that was transferred out of the school’s previous construction on another website.
Casa do Cabido

Along the side of this Praza das Praterías, the baroque Casa perform Cabildo is no longer than a 3m-deep facade built from the 1750s at the behest of their cathedral authorities to decorate the plaza (and supply certainly cramped living space for its 2 families that inhabited it). Today its top two floors home varied temporary displays.
Fuente de los Caballos

The plaza in the cathedral’s southside is targeted on Fuente de los Caballos fountain (1825), a popular photo op, together with four elegant horses surmounted with a female figure holding the directing star that, according to legend, directed the way into the discovery of Santiago’s grave.
Praza da Inmaculada

But on the cathedral’s north , this really is really where many pilgrims arriving in Santiago first place eyes to the cathedral. Opposite looms the huge, austerely baroque Mosteiro de San Martiño Pinario, today a seminary.
Colexio de Fonseca

Just south of this cathedral, the Colexio de Fonseca, using a beautiful Renaissance courtyard and 2 exhibit galleriesthat was the original seat of Santiago’s college (founded in 1495).
Parque de San Domingos de Bonaval

Only northeast of Santiago’s monumental center, the leafy Bonaval park, once the estate of a convent, is a deliciously green and tranquil retreat from the city cried.
Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea

The Contemporary Art Centre gifts exemplary exhibitions of contemporary art (including film and video) out of Galicia and the remainder of the planet in spacious, in-wall halls.
Cidade da Cultura de Galicia

Focus with this grand stature endeavor on Monte Gaiás, 1.5km southeast of the oldtown, was discontinued in 2013 after a decade of delays and budget blow outs. Yet a few of those six main buildings are completed and receptive, though their fascination with casual people is bound if you don’t match with a worth while display or cultural occasion. For the inquisitive, the Town of kindergarten will not merit a trip because of the dramatic 21st-century architecture (by American Peter Eisenman).