The Way of Sant James

The Director of Turismo de Galicia, Nava Castro, who visited the Castle of Pambre today, highlighted the importance of the rehabilitation work carried out by the Department which he directs  so that “this monument of the district of A Ulloa may be open to the public in order to make it possible to visit this asset of cultural interest which, besides being one of the few examples of military architecture of medieval Galicia which are still conserved, it is also a significant point of interest for pilgrims”.

During his stay in Palas de Rei, Nava Castro reminded us of the work carried out in the Castle of Pambre by the Department he directs. This involved a budget of more than 2.1 million euros. Substantial rehabilitation work was carried out including archaeological work, the recuperation of the wall structures, the improvement to the access to the main areas of the fortification and the rehabilitation of the existing residential zone.

Complementary work

In addition, Turismo de Galicia carried out work complementary to the main work of rehabilitation in order to facilitate the visits, the view of the castle and its security. Thus, safety railings were placed at the drops in levels of the routes between the wall and the towers and exterior lighting was installed, as well as a lightning conductor. This work also included the installation of signs in order to facilitate the understanding of the building, its routes to the special components, as well as to the rooms. Furthermore, the raised granary (hórreo) was reconstructed and the passages between the walls of the towers and the large tower were covered in order to facilitate the exterior journey in bad weather.

Interpretation Centre

According to Navas Castro, one of the more important tasks of this rehabilitation work on the Castle of Pambre was the provision of an interpretation centre included in four rooms in order to store multimedia projections, the illustration of the relationship of the castle with the physical and natural environment, “stressing the link it has with the Camino de Santiago, information on the Middle Ages in Galicia related to the noble families and the ecclesiastical power and, finally an area assigned to the castle itself and its history until today”, added the Director of Turismo de Galicia.

Camino de Santiago

As explained by Nava Castro, with the improvement of the Castle of Pambre the objectives and work stipulated in the master plan of the Camino de Santiago 2015-2016 are complied with in iorder to foster the pilgrimage routes and improve the attention and services supplied to the pilgrim. Thus, the Director of Turismo de Galicia pointed out that, “we highlight the points of interest which the pilgrim may find along the French Way, the route most trodden on the Camino de Santiago with more than 176,000 pilgrims in 2016”.