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Pazo de Oca
The gardens of the Pazo de Oca are one of the jewels of gardening in Galicia and northern Spain. Its gardens, belonging to the Camellia Route, is a perfect balance between the English garden style, where the freedom of growth of plant species predominates, and the French garden, where nature is subjected to human control , this characteristic has marked the evolution of the garden of the Pazo de Oca throughout the centuries.
Pazo de Oca
General information
Some highlights about Pazo de Oca in A Estrada, Pontevedra, Galicia (Spain)
Awards
Asset of Cultural Interest
Type of historic garden
Private residences
Size
140.000 m2
Location
Pazo de Oca, A Estrada 36685
Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain
Coordinates: 42.74650, -8.39494
Open in Google Maps
Timetables
Open every day of the week:
- April 1 - October 31:
10:00 - 14:00 and 16:00 - 20:00 - November 1 - March 31:
10:00 - 14:00 and 15:00 - 19:00
Tickets
Gardens entrance:
- Individual: € 10
- Groups (Min. 15 people): € 7
Full ticket: Gardens and interior of the palace
- Individual: € 20
- Groups (Min. 15 people): € 17
Contact information
Web: fundacionmedinaceli.org
Email: pazodeoca@fundacionmedinaceli.org
Phone: 0034 986 58 74 35
Pazo de Oca
Natural environment
The gardens of the Pazo de Oca are one of the jewels of gardening in Galicia and northern Spain. Its gardens, belonging to the Camellia Route, is a perfect balance between the English garden style, where the freedom of growth of plant species predominates, and the French garden, where nature is subjected to human control , this characteristic has marked the evolution of the garden of the Pazo de Oca throughout the centuries.
An eminently rural area where small land dedicated to the cultivation of agricultural products predominate along with plots for raising livestock, especially cattle. In this natural landscape, in which you breathe peace and tranquillity, the cultivation of the vine is also a protagonist, since since 2000 it has been part of the Rías Baixas Designation of Origin, being one of the five sub-areas of production in Galicia.
Vía de la Plata
Through these lands passes the Vía de la Plata, one of the roads of Santiago, which led the pilgrims from the south of the Iberian Peninsula to the tomb of the Apostle Santiago, which makes it an area rich in legends and traditions.
The mild climate and a green landscape dotted with churches, monasteries, chapels, pazos or crosses invite us to discover the region, classified as wine and camellias.
Pazo de Oca
Historical background
Although tradition speaks of an ancient fortress from the 12th century, the first material remains that still exist today date from the mid-15th century and are contemporaries of the first lords of Oca of whom there is documentary evidence: Álvaro de Oca and his son Suero.
The oldest baroque garden in Galicia
In 1575 the property passed into the hands of the royal crown, until in 1586 when it was acquired by María de Neyra. During several centuries, different descendants of that family inherited this entailed estate until they reached the Duchy of Medinaceli. In the 18th century, this property became a Baroque-style agricultural and residential complex, inside it houses the oldest baroque garden in Galicia, terraced and where water is the main protagonist.
Historical-artistic monument
After the establishment in 1978 of the Casa Ducal de Medinaceli Foundation, the pazo de Oca became part of the historical heritage of that institution. Its complex, which has been declared a historical-artistic monument in 1972, is made up of three main elements: the chapel, the palace and its gardens.
Pazo de Oca
Description
The gardens of the Pazo de Oca are one of the jewels of gardening in Galicia and northern Spain. Its gardens, belonging to the Camellia Route, is a perfect balance between the English garden style, where the freedom of growth of plant species predominates, and the French garden, where nature is subjected to human control , this characteristic has marked the evolution of the garden of the Pazo de Oca throughout the centuries.
One of the most interesting contributions came towards the end of the 19th century, when François de Vié was hired to transform the garden in the English style. Years later, in 1920, Ignacio Fernández de Henestrosa, Marqués de Camarasa, would decide to return to recover the French-style line that the garden originally followed, leaving only one part, “the grove”, in which the influence of the romantic anglo-Saxon court is still recognized, developed by Francois de Vié.
The garden contains various spaces organized under a distribution that combines the essence of each one of them in relation to the whole.
The patio
Through a hallway, which preserves 16th century doors on both sides crowned by the arms of the Luaces and the Neira respectively, you enter the courtyard, a space surrounded by buildings from different periods, from the 16th to the 20th century.
Of the different designs that this patio has had, the only piece that remains constant is the central trilobed stone fountain, surrounded by trimmed boxwood and with two boxwood beds, accompanied by camellias, azaleas, hydrangeas and rhododendrons. The current geometric and formalist flowerbeds are a work carried out around 1930 and completed in the restorations carried out in the last thirty-five years.
In 1929, part of the old blocks that closed the patio were demolished to communicate it, by means of stairs, with the era and open a new perspective towards the Ulla Valley. In this area, the following stand out: the hórreo (typical granary from the northwest of the Iberian Península), the trough-laundry in carved stone with an octagonal structure and in the background the Portal from another family property and decorated with the arms of Sotomayor, Moscoso, Parga and Mariñas.
Behind this first part of the garden there is a transition space, about thirty meters bordering the facade of the palace that serves as a hinge between the more closed space of the patio and the open one of the gardens and orchards. They are drawn, squares of low boxwood hedges and specimens of great botanical interest due to their antiquity: Camelia reticulata, Cryptomeria japonica, fastigiated yew, etc.
Pazo de Oca
Chronology
- 15th century
The origin of the pazo could begin with a primitive medieval fortress surrounded by a preserve, it would consist of two towers joined by a fully crenelated intermediate body. Although the remains that have survived start from the middle of the 15th century at the hands of the first lords of Oca. - 16th century
In the 16th century, the new owner, María de Neira, built an oratory in honour of Saint Anthony, adjacent to the pazo, which in turn underwent some transformations in the 18th century. Some vestiges remain from this period, such as the facing doors of the entrance hall, carved in 1583 and crowned by the arms of the Neira and Luaces lineages. - 17th century
The fundamental stage of the remodelling and expansion of the complex began at the end of the 17th century and during the 18th century, following the prototype of the Galician Baroque style. In this way, the old fortress of Oca would end up becoming a magnificent palace. - 18th century
In the 18th century, Andrés Gayoso and his wife remodelled the façade of the pazo that overlooks the plaza, then a work site, at the end of which they rebuilt the old medieval tower and built other outbuildings.
During the second quarter of the same eighteenth century, his son, Fernando Gayoso Arias Ozores and his wife, continued the remodelling and expansion of the old fortress, building the south wing of the building, with a monumental Baroque Chapel that would replace the old hermitage, also the communication gallery of the chapel with the house-palace, some rooms, the kitchen, "lareira" (fireplace), pantry and the rooms of the butler and the pages were built.
In the following years of the same eighteenth century, Francisco Javier Arias Ozores ordered the construction of the wooden solarium or "wooden corridor" and, later, his brother and successor, Domingo Gayoso de los Cobos, carried out some reforms in the palace's premises. to finish forming the pacega unit through the acquisition of adjoining land and finished walling the entire property. - 19th century
During the third quarter of the 19th century, the communication staircase of the noble floor of the palace with the patio, the upper gallery and its lower loggia were built. In the surroundings of the landlords, the central fountain, the façade of the sunny (eastern) and other works were carried out in the palace, in accordance with the romantic fashion of those moments, such as the semi circular guest rooms. At the same time the landscaping transformation of the garden will be carried out, to replace the previous formalist garden. - 20th century
During the 20th century, there will be two stages of interventions. The first one carried out, during the 1920s, by the Marquis of Camarasa Ignacio Fernández de Henestrosa and his wife Blanca Pérez de Guzmán, the restoration phase of certain areas of the old building, such as the wooden staircase to go down to the so-called topped tower, as well as in the installation of the Cillobre portal (brought from another building of the family) and the subsequent opening of the patio, until then closed, by means of a stone staircase decorated with large balls, in addition to giving back to the garden the formal baroque character that possessed in another time.
The second phase of maintenance and restoration of Oca during the same twentieth century continues to this day at the hands of the Foundation of the Ducal House of Medinaceli.