Pontevedra Museum, Castelao building

The Pontevedra Museum, run by the provincial council (Diputación), spreads its collection across six buildings in the historic centre, most of them historic. Two matter for visitors, joined by walkways: the Castelao building, at Rúa Padre Amoedo Carballo 3, with the permanent collection and temporary exhibitions, and the Sarmiento building. Admission is free, and so are the guided visits to the collection.

What you see

The Castelao building is the only one purpose-built as a museum, the work of the architects Eduardo Pesquera and Jesús Ulargui, opened in 2013 on the former orchard of the Jesuit college. In its twenty-three rooms you follow the history and art of Galicia from the late Middle Ages to today, in dialogue with Spanish art from other regions, with works by Castelao, who gives it its name, Maruja Mallo, Joaquín Sorolla, Ramón Casas and Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor. Among its essential pieces the museum highlights the prophets of the Portico of Glory, the Caldas de Reis treasure and the Belvís altarpiece.

The Sarmiento building was the college of the Society of Jesus, built between 1685 and 1714 by Pedro de Monteagudo, with a two-storey cloister and a great stone staircase from 1722. It displays prehistoric and ancient archaeology, Sargadelos earthenware, ceramics from Pontecesures and other Spanish potteries, and the Sánchez Mesas-Fernández de Tejada collection of contemporary Spanish and Oriental art. The Castro Monteagudo and García Flórez buildings are closed for renovation.

Hours and guided visits

Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 to 21:00, and Sundays and public holidays 11:00 to 14:00. Closed on Mondays, on 1 and 6 January and on 24, 25 and 31 December. You can enter until 20 minutes before closing. The free guided visits to the permanent collection are, from 16 June to 15 September, Tuesday to Saturday at 12:00 and also on Wednesday at 18:00; the rest of the year, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays at 12:00. Groups of up to 25 people can arrange a one-hour tour with the education department, on 986 804 100, extension 42416.

Services and how to get there

It is fully accessible, with lifts, free loan of wheelchairs, induction loops at reception and sign-language visits. It has a free cloakroom, a bookshop, a café area on the third floor of the Castelao with wifi, and the restaurant La Ultramar on the ground floor of the Sarmiento. The museum has no car park: the nearest free ones are those of the Pazo da Cultura, the Recinto Feiral and the Sports Pavilion, and the paid ones are Santa Clara, the Market, Praza de Barcelos and Praza de España.

Next to the Alameda, the Santo Domingo ruins are another site of the museum. For a nearby meal, Os Maristas is on Praza da Verdura and O Eirado da Leña on Praza da Leña, in the same old town.