The Gran Vía de Montero Ríos is an avenue in

Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a city in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. It is the capital of both the ''Pontevedra (comarca), Comarca'' and Province of Pontevedra, and the capital of the Rías Baixas. It is als ...

(

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

) located in the

city centre A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commercial, Culture, cultural and often the historical, Politics, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely e ...

, in the 19th century bourgeois area. It is one of the most emblematic avenues in Pontevedra.

Origin of the name

The avenue was called Gran Vía (major thoroughfare) because it was the widest in the city when it was created. After his death in 1914, the avenue was dedicated to

Eugenio Montero Ríos Eugenio Montero Ríos (13 November 1832, in Santiago de Compostela – 12 May 1914, in Madrid) was a leading member of the Spanish Liberal Party before being part of a 1903 schism that divided it. He also served briefly as Prime Minister of Sp ...

, for his great political activity in favour of Pontevedra.

History

The Gran Vía de Montero Ríos, originally known as the Gran Vía, was designed in the 1870s to connect the

Alameda de Pontevedra The ''Alameda del arquitecto Sesmero'' (translated as ''Alameda of architect Sesmero''), popularly known as ''la Alameda'' by the Pontevedrians, is an urban park located in the city centre of Pontevedra in Spain. It is the largest urban green sp ...

with the grounds of the old fairground. Its design was included in the project commissioned by the

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

in 1880 by the architect Alejandro Sesmero for the planning and development of the

Alameda An alameda is a street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada * Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan ** Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile * Alameda (Santi ...

. In 1884, the Provincial Council of Pontevedra bought from the City Council of Pontevedra the land where the Palace of the Deputation of Pontevedra is located. The palace was designed by Alejandro Sesmero and his father Domingo Sesmero. Work began on 1 March 1884 and lasted until 8 November 1890. Also in the 1880s, the Pontevedra City Council bought the property located further west of the Gran Vía from the Munaiz family, a plot of land that was still empty, in order to construct a building for the new School of Arts and Crafts. The building was designed by the architect Arturo Calvo Tomelén, who took charge of the project in 1895. The building was inaugurated in 1901. In 1905, the construction of the new building of the Provincial High School of Pontevedra began next to the ruins of the San Domingo Convent. The building, designed by the architects Joaquín Rojí López-Calvo and José Lorite Kramer, was completed at the beginning of 1926, with more delay than expected due to the economic crisis. The school was inaugurated on 27 September 1927 by King

Alfonso XIII Alfonso XIII (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena''; French language, French: ''Alphonse Léon Ferdinand Marie Jacques Isidore Pascal Antoine de Bourbon''; 17 May ...

during a visit to Pontevedra. In August 1941, the Pontevedra City Council ceded a plot of land at the end of the Gran Vía to the Francoist government for the construction of a monument to the memory of the soldiers who died for their country. A large cross was built, in the style of those erected at the same time throughout

. In July 1984, the plans for the construction of the city's first underground car park under the Gran Vía de Montero Ríos, with a capacity for 376 vehicles, were completed. On 23 March 1985, the old Cross of the Soldiers who died for the Fatherland was raised in order to carry out the work on the car park. The car park was inaugurated on 12 December 1985 and the avenue became the second pedestrianised thoroughfare in the city after Oliva Street. On 12 August 1986, the Monument to the Soldier was inaugurated at the end of the Gran Vía de Montero Ríos, at the initiative of the mayor

José Rivas Fontán José Rivas Fontán (born 31 August 1941) is a Spanish politician and teacher who was the Mayor of Pontevedra between 1979 and 1991. He withdrew from public activity in 2004 and is currently retired. Biography Family José Rivas Fontán wa ...

. The City Council of Pontevedra chose to keep the 1940s cross and to complete it with a group of sculptures in order to transform the tribute to the soldiers who died for their country into a Monument to the Soldier. In 1996, the avenue was renamed Gran Vía de Montero Ríos, taking the traditional name of Gran Vía. In 2001, work was carried out on the underground car park and the Gran Vía de Montero Ríos was completely refurbished with a new surface. The renovation was inaugurated on 28 June 2001.

Description

It is a flat avenue in the centre of the city with a straight course of 315 metres. Its average width is 24 metres. It is a paved pedestrian avenue located in the 19th century

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

expansion area of the city, which ends with the monument to the soldier. Many of the city's most important institutional buildings can be found on this avenue, such as the Palace of the Provincial Council of Pontevedra, the building of the former Pontevedra Teacher Training College and the School of Arts and Crafts, the Provincial High School and the ruins of the Convent of Saint Dominic. The Gran Vía de Montero Ríos begins in the east at the intersection of the Plaza de España and Marqués de Riestra Street and ends in the west, with stairs and slopes that go down to the Queen Victoria Eugenie Avenue. It is bordered on the north by the

and has an underground car park below. At the end of the Gran Vía de Montero Ríos, on the west side, is the Monument to the Soldier, the work of the sculptor Alfonso Vilar Lamelas. It is a sculptural group weighing 60 tons, consisting of a cross and a group of sculptures whose total dimensions are 16 metres high, 8.20 metres wide and 3.40 metres deep. The dimensions of the sculpture groups are 3.45 m high, 2.10 m wide and 1.05 m deep. The cross is clad in stone and has a metal and concrete structure. Below the cross is a group of granite sculptures depicting a wounded soldier, assisted by two standing companions. On either side of the cross are two other carved groups with the same theme, but with dying soldiers assisted by other soldiers who bend down to take them in their arms. The monument is preceded by a flight of steps and surrounded by a balustrade.

Outstanding buildings

The Pontevedra Provincial Council Palace, located in the middle of the Gran Vía de Montero Ríos, belongs to the

eclectic style Eclecticism is a kind of mixed style in the fine arts: "the borrowing of a variety of styles from different sources and combining them" . Significantly, Eclecticism hardly ever constituted a specific style in art: it is characterized by the fact t ...

with elements and concepts inspired by French architecture. It is built in stone, has a square plan and two floors. The facade is symmetrically organised, with a central body and two lateral bodies slightly advanced with

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

with

bossage Bossage is uncut stone that is laid in place in a building, projecting outward from the building, to later be carved into decorative moldings, capitals, arms, etc. Bossages are also rustic work, consisting of stones which seem to advance beyond ...

s. A large staircase leads to the main entrance, which is inspired by a

triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road, and usually standing alone, unconnected to other buildings. In its simplest form, a triumphal ...

, with semicircular arches framed by fluted columns with Ionic

capitals Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

. The building of the former Pontevedra School of Arts and Crafts and the Pontevedra Teachers' Training College is an eclectic style building with a square plan, three floors and a half basement. Originally, the building had two floors and a recessed floor which was later transformed into a complete third floor. The façade has the traditional two-tone scheme of fine reddish and pinkish brick and granite, with decorative stone details around the windows and

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s. It is surrounded by a granite plinth. The Valle-Inclán High School building is a sober and elegant example of the

eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...

and

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

styles. It consists of a basement, a ground floor and two upper floors. The Art Nouveau decoration of the facades, doors and windows, as well as the decoration of the window

lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented/structural item. In the case ...

s and the dormer windows in the central part of the roof, are outstanding. The facade decoration consists mainly of geometric motifs on the windows and doors, floral motifs and small circles. The central body of the façade of the main entrance is decorated in the Art Nouveau style: a large window with a curved

and a geometric

Secessionist Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a Polity, political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal i ...

rhythm. It has a tower in which the headmasters of the school lived during the first years of its existence. The Ruins of the Convent of Saint Dominic are the remains of a 14th-century Gothic convent. Today, together with five other buildings, they form the Provincial Museum of Pontevedra and were declared a

Site of Cultural Interest Site most often refers to: * Archaeological site * Campsite, a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area * Construction site * Location, a point or an area on the Earth's surface or elsewhere * Website, a set of related web pages, typically ...

in 1895. Only the Apse#Chevet, chevet is preserved, with five Apse chapel, apsidal chapels corresponding to the transverse arm of the transept, which constitute the purest example of Gothic architecture in Galicia (Spain), Galicia.

Gallery

File:Pontevedra-Expo, No país das vacas (8072102885).jpg, Exhibition in the Gran Vía in 2012 File:Pontevedra-De noche en Montero Ríos (7010409441).jpg, The Gran Vía de Montero Ríos by night File:Pontevedra-El último paseo del día (11942104406).jpg, The Gran Vía at dusk File:Pontevedra cruz.jpg, Monument to the Soldier by Alfonso Vilar Lamelas (1986) File:Pontevedra Capital Ruinas de Santo Domingo.jpg, Ruins of San Domingos, Ruins of Saint Dominic Convent File:Deputación de Pontevedra.jpg, Palace of the Provincial Council of Pontevedra File:Escuela Normal Pontevedra Capital - Fachada Principal.jpg, Pontevedra Normal School Building, Old Pontevedra Arts and Crafts Building File:Pontevedra capital, Instituto modernista Valle-Inclán.jpg, Valle-Inclán High School, Valle-Inclán High School Building File: Alameda de Pontevedra y Gran Vía de Montero Ríos - Pontevedra capital.jpg, General view of the Gran Vía File: Pantalla turística Gran Vía de Montero Ríos Pontevedra capital.jpg, Tourist display of the city

Origin of the name

History

Description

Outstanding buildings

Gallery

References

See also

Bibliography

Related articles

External links