Ruínas de San Domingos

The Ruínas de San Domingos was a convent located in Pontevedra, Galicia (Spain). It was declared Bien de Interés Cultural in 1895.HistoryEarly yearsThis is the oldest of all Pontevedra Museum’s buildings. The only sections of the original buildings that have been conserved are the main apse, formed by five apses, exceptional in Galician gothic architecture, and part of the south wall of the church and the entrance to the chapter of the Santo Domingo convent, founded in around 1282, although the work on the conserved temple did not begin until 1383, continuing through the 15th century.1836-1880Following the introduction of the exclaustration law, the convent was closed on 8 December 1836 and handed over to the "Junta de Enajenación de Edificios y Efectos de los Conventos Suprimidos de la Provincia de Pontevedra", and then handed over as an Asylum to the Town Council, which received the building in May 1840. Despite being occupied successively by a women’s prison, a hospice until 1869, when it was transferred to Santa Clara, an infant school, as well as other activities designated by the Town Council, the building gradually deteriorated until it fell into ruin and by 1846 some of its materials were being used to pave streets. In 1864 a chapel was demolished and between 1869 and 1870 the top part of the tower, located on the south-eastern corner, was torn down.On 12 March 1874 the Town Council, presided by Fermín Brey, applied for another concession in order to completely demolish the building and extend the property to the plot at the Fair Ground. This concession was approved by the Civil Governor and President of the Provincial Commission of Monuments, but on the condition that the part corresponding to the old church and other elements of interest be conserved.