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Praza do Obradoiro

Santiago de Compostela, Santiago, A Coruña

1 Villages · 12 Monuments · 6 Nature · 3 Activities · 7 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

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Praza do Obradoiro

Monument · Santiago de Compostela, Santiago, A Coruña

An esplanade of about 6,000 square metres, the most emblematic square in Santiago de Compostela, enclosed by four buildings that sum up the life of the city: the cathedral, with the façade of the Obradoiro and its museum, and beside it the Pazo de Xelmírez, to the east; the Hostal dos Reis Católicos, the former Hospital Real, to the north; the Colexio de San Xerome, today the university's rectorate, to the south; and the Pazo de Raxoi, seat of the town council, to the west. The great pillars of life in Compostela are thus represented: religion, the university, care for the pilgrim, and administration. Its name may derive from the obradoiros, the workshops of the stonemasons who worked on the cathedral's Baroque façade, the fruit of more than seven hundred years of construction and a remarkable wealth of architectural styles.

Photo: slideshow bob (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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