Méndez Núñez Square is a square of medieval origin located in the heart of the historic centre of

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 ...

Origin of the name

The square owes its current name to Casto Méndez Núñez who lived in the Pazo de los Cru y Montenegro on the south side of the square in the 19th century.

History

The square is part of a structure created during the second extension of the

city walls A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as curtain walls with to ...

in the 13th century.Fontoira Surís, Rafael, 2009, Pontevedra Monumental, Pontevedra, Diputación de Pontevedra, p. 228 The square came into being spontaneously, forming an open square from the widening of a main street (today's Sarmiento street) and the crossing of other secondary streets such as Don Gonzalo street.Armas Castro, José, 1992, Pontevedra en los siglos XII a XV: configuración y desarrollo de una villa marinera en la Galicia medieval, A Coruña, Fundación Pedro Barrié de la Maza, p. 96 Its first known name was ''Campo da Herva'', which referred to its origin as an uninhabited place outside the walled enclosure, where the first bartering could take place in the city.Juega Puig, Juan, 2000, As rúas de Pontevedra, Pontevedra, Diputación de Pontevedra, p. 94 Later, the square was called ''Plaza del Campo Verde'' and ''Plaza de las Gallinas'', due to the poultry market that was held there. Its main activity was as a place for commercial transactions. The noble Cru and Montenegro family lived from the 15th century onwards in the Pazo located in the southern part of the square. In the 19th century,

Counter Admiral Counter admiral is a military rank used for high-ranking officers in several navies around the world, though the rank is not used in the English-speaking world, where its equivalent rank is rear admiral. The term derives from the French . Dependi ...

Casto Méndez Núñez also lived in this

pazo A pazo is a type of Galician traditional house. Similar to a manor house, pazos are usually located in the countryside, as former residences of important people in the community (formerly of kings and nobility). They were of crucial importance in ...

, where he died on 21 August 1869. For this reason, on 31 August 1875, the square was given the name of Plaza de Méndez Núñez. At the end of the 19th century, the brothers Andrés and Jesús Muruais became the owners of the Pazo de los Cru y Montenegro, making the square a place of reference thanks to its large library, located on the ground floor of the pazo and containing, among other things, works of European literature (especially French), art books and magazines, which were extremely important at the time as exhibitors of what was happening in the cities and in the artistic movements. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, Valle-Inclán, a friend of Jesús Muruais, regularly visited this library and took part in the famous meetings held there. The square was refurbished in 2002. Its current appearance dates from that time.

Description

The square has a

trapezoidal In geometry, a trapezoid () in North American English, or trapezium () in British English, is a quadrilateral that has at least one pair of parallel sides. The parallel sides are called the ''bases'' of the trapezoid. The other two sides are ...

shape and the streets of

Sarmiento Sarmiento may refer to: Places Argentina *Sarmiento Department, San Juan, a subdivision of the San Juan Province * Sarmiento Department, Santiago del Estero, a subdivision of the Santiago del Estero Province * Sarmiento Department, Chubut, a subdi ...

, Palma, Don Gonzalo, César Boente and San Xulián converge on it. The square is paved and pedestrianised, as is the rest of the city's historic centre. After the 2002 renovation, the stone benches and lampposts that used to be in the square have disappeared and it has become a completely open space. The square is overlooked on its eastern side by a large century-old

magnolia tree ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphology (biology), morphological research shows that former genera ''Talau ...

, which is located in the urban garden of the Pazo de los Cru y Montenegro. The square is accessed from the south side of Calle Don Gonzalo through an arch that is part of this manor house. The houses on the north side of the square had arcades, of which some characteristic columns remain, and some arcades on the west side, in Sarmiento Street. Since 26 June 2003, a statue of Valle-Inclán has stood on the south-eastern side of the square, as if he had just left the Muruais house, where he used to go to the library and attend cultural meetings in Jesús Muruais' office.

Outstanding buildings

On the south side of the square is the Pazo de los Cru y Montenegro, which crosses Don Gonzalo street with its

pointed arch A pointed arch, ogival arch, or Gothic arch is an arch with a pointed crown meet at an angle at the top of the arch. Also known as a two-centred arch, its form is derived from the intersection of two circles. This architectural element was partic ...

. This manor house dates back to the 15th century, although it has undergone numerous subsequent modifications, particularly in the 16th and 19th centuries. Its façade was rebuilt in the

Baroque style The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (i ...

and it has a large stone coat of arms from the 17th century, known as the ''Coat of Arms of the Twelve Lineages'',Aganzo, Carlos, 2010, Pontevedra. Ciudades con encanto, Madrid, El País-Aguilar, p. 66 with the arms of Montenegro, Mariño, Sotomayor and Cru, and French windows with balconies on the upper floor. The manor house preserves the remains of its original crenellated tower, whose battlements have been replaced by a conventional roof. The Pazo de los Mosquera is located to the west of the square. Its construction began in the 16th century and was modified in the 18th century. The top floor was added in the 20th century. Until then, it only had a ground floor and a lower floor. The coat of arms on the façade belongs to Luis Mosquera Sotomayor, who lived here in the 16th century. The interior of the manor house was divided into houses.Fontoira Surís, Rafael, 2009, Pontevedra Monumental, Pontevedra, Diputación de Pontevedra, p. 228 At the beginning of the 20th century, this building housed the Balmes School, where the avant-garde writer Luis Amado Carballo did his first studies.Riveiro Tobío, Elvira, 2008, Descubrir Pontevedra, Pontevedra, Edicións do Cumio, p. 41

Culture

On the west side of the square is one of the oldest bookshops in Galicia, the Cao bookshop, founded in 1948 and specialising in rare, out-of-print and old books.

Origin of the name

History

Description

Outstanding buildings

Culture

References

See also

Bibliography

Related articles

External links