| ( Next to the building in the market place, O Caramiñal ) Declared Historic-Artistic Monument of National Interest. The origin and functionality of this whimsical house are directly related with the prosperity of a population that in 1554 raised their status into a villa by Gómez Pérez das Mariñas, the Lord of O Caramiñal and the alderman of the city of Santiago. It was built by Juan Domínguez Giance and his wife Constanza Domínguez de Búa. The nobility connotations of the house also influenced those families that lived later in this house; the last one was the family of Ramón del Valle-Inclán Bermúdez de Castro and Dolores de la Peña y Montenegro, the parents of the famous writer Valle-Inclán. According to the writer’s words, this house was his residence when he came back from his 10th journey to Mexico (1893). The old part of the house – a beautiful sample from the Renaissance – is the only trace still preserved today from the palace architecture of the 16th century. These traces were related with Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón. It has two floors, an annexe tower and magnificent outdoor stairs. The main door is a semicircular arch with pilasters and front wall; another door has a lintel and it has a fluted frame placed in the façade facing the riverbank. The third door, also with an arch, is placed over the stairs’ shelf. Diversity is also present in its windows; some of them are even and others have remarkable shapes and classical columns and front wall. Those windows placed at a higher level, stand out for their outline and decoration. In the inside part of the windows are half of the walls’ thickness, leaving at both sides the traditional viewpoints, which functioned as the seat for those madams who lived in the stately home and used to sit there patiently doing their occupations. The same classical style can be seen in the ornamentation that increases its value: chimeras, dolphins, masks, angels, medals, a coat of arms, little tenants, singular eagle-shaped gargoyles, a mariner garland along the cornice, … The granite stone carefully carved. Parish: O Caramiñal Place: A Pobra do Caramiñal Style: Renaissance Century: 16th | |