Bien:Pazo O Castillo
Comunidad Autónoma:C.A. Galicia
Provincia:Orense / Ourense
Municipio:Villamarin
Categoría:Monumento
Fecha de Incoación:02-07-1977
"The castle Vilamarín , also known as Pazo de Vilamarín , is a palace that retains much of its function as fortification medieval , and currently works as an exhibition hall while harboring a permanent exhibition of the work of James Quessada . Was declared Historical-Artistic Monument in 1977 .
It stands in the place known as Casal de Bouza , this place that belonged to the domains of the Monastery of Oseira , in the municipality of Vilamarín in Ourense .
It is located in a low place on a small elevation of granite rock that dominates the flat lands that surround it.
The origins of this building are unknown. The truth and verifiable is that the town of Vilamarín was one of those donated by Alfonso VII to the lieutenant of the Castle of Allariz as a reward for his services in the war. This donation was confirmed by Fernando III the Saint and Sancho IV .
Following María Teresa Ribera Rodríguez, the pazo belonged to the count of Ribadavia and was destroyed during the Irmandiña revolt in 1467 .
After suffering a period of abandonment, at the end of the seventeenth century , already part of the property of the Count of Maceda , it was the subject of profound reforms that gave it the current appearance of a fortified palace with Baroque architectural solutions . In 1603, according to Ángel del Castillo, the complex remained uninhabited.
Some time later he will be linked to the Count of Taboada. According to Ángel del Castillo, at the end of the 17th century this house was listed as the property of the Count of Maceda . The Cadastre of Ensenada confirms this news in the eighteenth century , as it says that in Vilamarín the Count of Maceda "has a house in the Lugar de Fortaleza, high, with its cellar, farm, kitchen and stables and that pays for all that to the Convent of San Paio de Antealtares ".
During the nineteenth century it passed through several owners. At the beginning of the 20th century it belonged to the La Maza family. Pedro de la Maza sold it to Juan López Suárez, who owned it for 24 years, then passed it on to José Vicoña Otero until in 1976 it was sold to its current owner, the Provincial Council of Ourense .
This began a series of restoration works of the set that finished in the year 1987 . The direction of the same was in charge of the architect Carlos Fernández-Gago Varela. The final result was deserving of the silver medal of the Spanish Association of Friends of the Castles.
Exterior
The building, built of granite masonry , is covered with a gabled roof , a roof from which four chimneys protrude , one of which is particularly interesting. This roof is joined to the walls by a molded cornice. The kitchen chimney rises up to five meters and is of square section of more than two meters of side.
It has an irregular polygonal floor plan with seven corners, the product of the incorporation of various additions over time and which results in a kind of elongated hexagon that looks like a rectangle. In the words of Taboada Chivite, it is "an unusual composition and ingeniously arbitrary formulation"
Five towers with modular battlements supported by modillions dominate the whole. Of these, three are of circular section and two, those facing north, of square section. On the less protected sides, northwest and southwest, a barbican about six feet high reinforces the defensive system. On the northwest and southwest wings they do not need a barbican as the terrain descends steeply and along with the height of the outer wall make them inaccessible.
The main door opens on the northwest façade between the circular tower of one of the corners and another semicircular tower located in the center of this northwest cloth. The door is of semicircular arch formed by large doelas of careful stonework . Above it a narrow balcony with balustrade joins the two towers that flank the access. Both this balcony and the eaves of the matacáns have defensive gutters oriented towards the defense of the door.
From the tower to the left of the doorway there is a wall that limits the small access ramp and whose design requires a curved entrance before reaching the door .
The complex preserves the barbican , the arrowheads and the circular path on the west side. However, it does not retain its battlement which has been replaced by a cornice molded with pipes and gargoyles . In the sixth corner a defense post supported on canzorros of circular section is conserved.
A patenilla-shaped hourglass crowns the tower on the southwest corner. Elsewhere a stone petiole a beveled circle portrays a kind star or exotic sun from which twelve rays come out. In the building the coats of arms of the arms of the Vilamarín [ 6 ] remain in spite of the erosion of the time.
In front of the castle you can see a chapel near her and a modern statue of an ancient warrior and two cabaceiros wood on tornarratos stone.
The Chapel
The 18th century chapel, dedicated to Saint Gregory the Great , has a rectangular floor plan and is covered with a gabled roof. It is decorated with section pilasters in the corners and crowned by moldings and pyramidal finishes finished in ball. The façade is also topped at the top with a quadruple frame. The chapel is crowned by a belfry with two bodies separated by a molding and topped by a small pediment. The main door is lintelled and framed with moldings on the outside. On the main door a small rose window . Another door opens on the south wall. A rectangular window opens on each of the side façades.
Interior
Inside the various outbuildings are organized around an adjoining courtyard (Roman style), perhaps the old courtyard , and with an open gallery on the upper floor. From this courtyard starts a stone staircase that communicates with the intermediate hall and the upper floor. On the upper floor a series of halls that communicate with each other and with access to the gallery overlooking the courtyard. Some of these doors have carpanal arches and others are lintelled doors.
The gallery rests on four thick pillars with lowered vertices located at the corners. Rectangular windows open on the upper floor. At a lower level, two windows open to the north and correspond to a hall located on an intermediate level.
Of special interest is the kitchen , located in the south corner, with a fireplace with a bell supported on molded capitals . In this fireplace was located the coat of arms today placed at the entrance of the castle. The kitchen has access to the tower located in the south corner. The kitchen has cupboards and scrubbers while also retaining the granite slab.
On the ground floor the courts, warehouses and some other rooms that seem to have served as prisons."
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