New rest and waiting area in the Pilgrim’s Reception Office

The International Pilgrim Welcome Centre, which used to be a nursing home on Rúa das Carretas and was designed by local architect Jesús López de Rego, now has an enormous new space in which pilgrims, arriving in the capital of Galicia to collect the Compostela (accreditation of the pilgrimage to the Tomb of St. James), are able to rest and wait to receive this valued accreditation. The restoration has recovered the only space from López de Rego’s plan that has been preserved.

These works allowed the original appearance of this room, which served as a rest area for the nursing home’s patients, to be restored. Then it was divided to be used as a kitchen and a laundry room, losing the splendour of the brick-vaulted room that has now been recovered by architect Carlos Rosón.

It is now spacious and bright, with an exit onto the back gardens of the old nursing home in which the pilgrims will be able to rest while screens indicate how the queue to collect the Compostela is progressing. The garden has also been developed, to reclaim the building’s idea and original concept, and a lift has been installed to ensure accessibility. The project was funded by the Cathedral and is an addition to the reform of the façade and woodwork, which was funded by Tourism of Galicia.

Text and photos: La Voz de Galicia