Project

Twelve centuries of art and architecture are chronicled in the buildings found in the hills of northwestern Spain. The Pazo de San Miguel das Penas lies 70 kilometers from Santiago de Compostela and the oldest portions of the villa were built before the 9th century. It is thought these could be the only remains of Swabian civil construction in the region. (...)

Twelve centuries of art and architecture are chronicled in the buildings found in the hills of northwestern Spain. The Pazo de San Miguel das Penas lies 70 kilometers from Santiago de Compostela and the oldest portions of the villa were built before the 9th century. It is thought these could be the only remains of Swabian civil construction in the region. In the later medieval period, a church and a fortified tower were added to the structure in an evolution typical to Galician manor houses. In the 18th century, the building was converted into a pazo, or a Galician manor house, for the Marquis of Camarasa. It also contains valuable Renaissance mural paintings and the only surviving example of scrafitto decoration in the province that could be dated as back as to the Swabian kingdom in the 6th century.

Over the years, the mural paintings deteriorated, principally because of the humidity. However, inadequate maintenance, neglect, and vandalism also damaged the murals and scrafitto decoration.