Santiago de Compostela travel guide

Top 10 sights in Santiago de Compostela

Ranked by Wikipedia language editions — proven fame.

1. 

   1© Fernando · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

   The cathedral built over the tomb attributed to the apostle James, whose relics were reported found here about 820 and which became the third great pilgrimage of Christendom. The Pórtico da Gloria of 1188 is behind the baroque west front, and the botafumeiro censer is swung at some Masses.

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2. 

   2© Angel Torres · CC BY 2.0

   Hospital de los Reyes Católicos

   A hostel and hospital for pilgrims founded by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1486 after their own pilgrimage, now a five-star parador on the Obradoiro square. It has taken in travellers continuously for over five centuries, which makes a fair claim to being the world's oldest hotel.

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3. 

   3© File:Castelo Rocha Forte.webm by Enmacosa Capture by Elisardojm · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Castle da Rocha Forte

   A ruined fortress outside Santiago, first recorded in 1253 and probably older, which the archbishops built to control the road up from Padrón. Townspeople demolished it in 1467 during the Irmandiño revolt against the nobility; the foundations are excavated.

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4. 

   4© slideshow bob · CC BY-SA 2.0

   Plaza del Obradoiro

   The main square of the old town, facing the cathedral's baroque west front, so that pilgrims arriving here still enter through the Pórtico da Gloria behind it. The four sides are said to represent church, crown, hospital and university: cathedral, Raxoi palace, royal hostel and college.

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5. 

   5© sporras · CC BY-SA 2.0

   Palacio de Rajoy

   A neoclassical palace of 1766 on the Obradoiro square, built by an archbishop as a seminary for confessors and now the city hall and a seat of the Galician government. A relief of the battle of Clavijo runs across its pediment.

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6. 

   6© Jose Pereira - Publicada por/Publish by: Jose Pereira · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Castriño of Conxo

   An Iron Age hill fort at Conxo with a series of petroglyphs, including Bronze Age carvings of weapons — among the clearest such panels in Galicia. It shows the ground was occupied long before the pilgrimage made the city.

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7. 

   7© http://gl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Lansbricae · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Convent of San Domingos de Bonaval

   A former Dominican monastery whose bell tower holds three separate stone spiral staircases that never meet, each serving a different floor — a piece of eighteenth-century virtuosity by Domingo de Andrade. It now houses the Museum of the Galician People.

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8. 

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   Galicia Contemporary Art Center

   The Galician contemporary art centre, opened in 1993 in a granite building by Álvaro Siza set against the wall of the San Domingos monastery. Its roof terrace looks over the old town and the Bonaval park Siza designed with it.

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9. 

   9© Javier Pais · CC BY 2.0

   Church of Santa María la Real del Sar

   A Romanesque church of the twelfth century whose columns lean visibly out of true because the ground beneath subsided. Eighteenth-century flying buttresses were added to hold it up and it has been left in that condition ever since.

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10. 

    10© Xosema · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Panteón de Galegos Ilustres

    A pantheon in the church of Santo Domingo de Bonaval where Galicia buries its own. The poet Rosalia de Castro, the writer and politician Castelao and the sculptor Francisco Asorey lie in its chapels.

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1. 

   1© Fernando · CC BY-SA 4.0

   San Martiño Pinario monastery

   A Benedictine monastery, the second largest in Spain after El Escorial, whose baroque façade faces the cathedral's north side. It is now a seminary and a hostel, and the church's gilded altarpieces are among the best baroque work in Galicia.

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2. 

   2© José Luis Filpo Cabana · CC BY 3.0

   Monastery of Saint Pelagius of Antealtares

   A monastery said to have been founded in the ninth century to guard the newly discovered tomb of the apostle, which makes it the oldest religious community in the city. Benedictine nuns still live in it and sell their almond cake through a turntable in the wall.

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3. 

   3© Cosal · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Capela de Ánimas

   A neoclassical chapel of 1788 built by a confraternity for the souls in purgatory, whose subject is carved across the front in relief. It stands on the pilgrims' route into the old town and is still in devotional use.

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4. 

   4

   Muralla de Santiago de Compostela

   The medieval wall around Santiago, largely demolished as the city grew outward with the pilgrimage traffic. Stretches of it and the sites of its seven gates can still be traced through the old town.

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5. 

   5© Lansbricae from Santiago de Compostela, España · CC BY-SA 2.0

   Castle Lupario

   A Gallaeci hill fort between Bastavales and Ribasar outside Santiago, also called Castle Beca, which local tradition identifies as the residence of Queen Lupa — who in the legend refused to receive the apostle's body. Only earthworks remain.

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