Exhibition spaces
Ruins of San Domingos
It is the oldest of the six buildings that make up the Museum of Pontevedra.
It consists of the remains of the old church and Dominic convent, founded around 1282. The only elements preserved, dating from 1383 onwards, are the chevet of the church, with five apses, exceptional in the Galician Gothic style; part of the church’s south wall; and the entrance to the chapter house.
The convent closed its doors on 8 December 1836 due to the ecclesiastical confiscation of Mendizábal and it was handed over to the Dissolution and Confiscation Board of Convents and Convent Property. This board gave the building’s usufruct rights to the Town Council, who turned it into a retirement home. Throughout the 19th century, it also served as women’s prison, hospice, headquarters of the Civil Guard, nursery school and army recruitment office.
The Ruins of San Domingos were declared a National Monument on 14 August1895. It was the first Galician monument to be recognised together with the Santa María a Real do Sar Collegiate Church, in the town of Santiago de Compostela.
In April 1937 the Ruins of San Domingos and its pieces joined the Museum of Pontevedra’s collection.
At present, this temple preserves and displays archaeological and sculptural remains of the Dominic convent, an interesting sample of funerary sculpture made up of noble and guild tombstones, and a heraldic collection.
