 Galicia square | |
 | |
| Native name | Plaza de Galicia (Spanish) |
|---|---|
| Type | plaza |
| Maintained by | Pontevedra City Council |
| Location | Pontevedra, Spain |
| Postal code | 36001 |
| Coordinates | 42°25′42″N8°38′40″W / 42.428321°N 8.644344°W |
| Construction | |
| Completion | 1991 |
| Other | |
| Designer | José Martínez Sarandeses |
The Plaza de Galicia is a 20th century square located in the city centre of Pontevedra (Spain), on the edge of the Campolongo neighbourhood.
The square is named after Galicia, the region in the northwest of Spain in which Pontevedra is located.
The origin of the Plaza de Galicia is a public space at the end of Augusto González Besada, Andrés Muruais and Andrés Mellado streets and in front of the old Pontevedra railway station, [1] which started operating on 16 May 1884, when the first locomotive arrived in the city. [2] This space was known as the station square. In 1890 the engineer Juan María León Domercq y Alzúa had his emblematic villa built on the corner of the square and Augusto González Besada Street, which was demolished in the mid-1980s. [3]
With the large number of travellers arriving in the square, in 1904 the Palace Hotel was built on the corner of Plaza de Galicia and Andrés Muruais Street, [4] a large Art Nouveau building with four floors and an attic designed by the architect Andrés López de Ocáriz Robledo, which provided accommodation for travellers arriving in the city and which was demolished in the late 1970s.
In 1966, the old railway station in the square was disused after the construction of the new Pontevedra railway station in the Gorgullón neighbourhood, further from the city centre, and was demolished in 1969. [5] [6]
In 1971, the square was enlarged, taking advantage of the space vacated by the old station, and two shelters were provided for the stops of the trolleybus that crossed the city. The square, entirely dedicated to traffic, remained in this layout until 1988, when the trolleybus lines were abolished. [7]
In 1991, the shelters and traffic lanes that divided the square were removed and the square was enlarged and completely redesigned by the architect José Martínez Sarandeses with the collaboration of the architects María Agustina Herrero Malina and Fernando Martínez Sarandeses and the landscape architect María Medina Muro. [8] This redevelopment improved the quality of the environment and reduced traffic congestion. The current appearance of the square dates from this period.
The square has a rectangular shape and an area of 5,800 square metres. Augusto García Sánchez Avenue and Agusto González Besada, Andrés Muruais and Andrés Mellado streets converge here.
The square is laid out as a garden square. It is a tree-lined square that bisects Augusto García Sánchez Avenue and is bordered by two one-way traffic lanes. The north, west and east sides are delimited by buildings and the south side opens onto the Campolongo neighbourhood and is delimited by a large central bus shelter with ten benches and a glass back panel. [9]
The central pedestrian garden square is a very distinctive space, planted with ornamental ash trees of Dutch origin and equipped with numerous benches. The square consists of four peripheral alleys, each with two rows of ash trees, bordered by flowerbeds and lawns. [10] A fifth alley, coinciding with the west-east axis of the square, connects the northern pavements of the two sections into which Augusto García Sánchez Avenue has been divided. [11] [12]
At the centre of the garden square is a circular central area with benches that facilitate seclusion. In the centre of this space is an ornamental fountain with sprinklers embedded in the ground that spray water and which is surrounded by granite blocks grouped in seven sets that evoke the stars of the Galician coat of arms and refer to the name of the square. [11] [13]
Pontevedra is a Spanish city in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. It is the capital of both the Comarca (County) and Province of Pontevedra, and of the Rías Baixas in Galicia. It is also the capital of its own municipality which is often considered an extension of the actual city.
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Campolongo is a neighbourhood in the city of Pontevedra (Spain). It has a residential, administrative, educational and commercial function.
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The Administrative building of the Xunta de Galicia in Pontevedra is an office complex designed to house the various public services of the Galician Government in Pontevedra, Spain. The building houses many of the Galician administration's departments and was designed by the architects Manuel Gallego Jorreto and Jacobo Rodríguez-Losada Allende.
The Public Library of Pontevedra Antonio Odriozola located in Pontevedra (Spain) is the provincial state library in the province of Pontevedra and is part of the Public Library Network of Galicia and the State Public Library Network (BPE). Its management has been transferred to the Autonomous Community of Galicia through the Department of Culture of the Galician Government.
Méndez Núñez Square is a square of medieval origin located in the heart of the historic centre of Pontevedra (Spain).
The Pontevedra Bus Station is a bus station in Pontevedra (Spain) that allows inter-city bus traffic, with national or international destinations.
The Marquis of Riestra's mansion is an eclectic building with art Nouveau elements from the late 19th century located at 30 Michelena Street in Pontevedra, Spain. It currently houses the main central administrative services of the City Council of Pontevedra.
The Ciudad de la Justicia de Pontevedra or the Pontevedra Judicial Complex is an architectural and judicial complex of the city of Pontevedra (Spain), consisting of two large court buildings built in 1998 and 2019 in the A Parda district.
St. Joseph's Square is a 19th century square located in the centre of the city of Pontevedra (Spain), in the first urban expansion area, near the Campolongo neighbourhood.
The former Saint Ferdinand Barracks in Pontevedra, is a large neoclassical building from the beginning of the 20th century located in the centre of Pontevedra (Spain), opposite the Doctor Marescot Gardens and very close to the Alameda de Pontevedra.
The Calle García Camba is a street in Pontevedra (Spain) located in the city centre, in the first urban expansion area. It is one of the main streets of Pontevedra.
The Ensanche of Pontevedra is the neighbourhood that forms the centre of the Spanish city of Pontevedra, made up of several successive extensions to the city outside the old town. The term Ensanche means " widening " in Spanish and refers to the expanding areas of Spanish cities towards the end of the 19th century, when the demographic explosion and the industrial revolution led to the demolition of the old city walls and the construction of new areas outside the old fortified walls.
