GALICIA Information - PAZO |
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The 15th century was enlivened, on one
hand, by the "Irmandiño" revolts, carried out by
peasants who rebelled against their feudal lords, and on the other
hand, by the unifying policies of the Catholic Monarchs, who tried
to end all signs of tribal power.
From then on, castles underwent reform and some lost their defensive
objective to become pazos or mansions, such as the Torres do Allo
in Zas. However, other pazos were constructed within the purest Renaissance
style, such as the Fefiñans in Cambados.
The architecture of Galicia's countless pazos perfectly sums up the
power of the nobility, solemn architecture decorated with crests,
balconies opening onto gardens with pools and fountains, pumping water
through a complex system of stone engineering. Market gardens that
experiment with exotic species, brought from far-off countries, with
geometric, maze-like gardened layouts that skilfully combines Atlantic
sensitivity with lessons learned from Italian Renaissance or French
Baroque. Sunny spots overlooking forests, fields of crops, great areas
of power, always enclosed by formidable walls.
In Galicia, we will always find that the pazo's architecture combines
the essences of the passage of history, such as the Torres de San
Paio de Narla, now the Ethnographic Museum of the Lugo Authorities,
or the Castle of Soutomaior, headquarters of the fearsome Pedro Madruga
(a noble who, in the times of the Catholic Monarchs, persecuted the
"irmandiños"), a castle which became a pazo with
19th-century Historicist additions. In the province of Ourense, near
the capital, there is the Fortress Pazo of Vilamarín. Pazo
de Oca in the Pontevedra town of A Estrada, cultured architecture,
like a stone ship sailing among gardens with Baroque pools, fountains,
box tree avenues, magnolias and camellias. Prototype pazos from the
pragmatism of the Illustration like the Pazo de Santa Cruz de Ribadulla,
with its beautiful forest, olive avenues and plantations. The Pazo
de Mariñan in the Coruña town of Bergondo, land of renowned
silversmiths and goldsmiths, the Pazo Quñiones de Lean in Castrelos.
Generally, Baroque constructions that can be associated with great
masters of Compostela. Sites of history and legend which, nowadays,
are opening new possibilities in rural tourism. An architecture of
feelings that Valle Inclan, la Pardo Bazan or Torrente Ballester described
magnificently in texts that are a source of superb, picturesque descriptions
of life in the pazos.
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