Pazo de Raxoi, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

At the beginning of 1760, Archbishop Rajoy comissioned Lucas Ferro Caaveiro to design the plans to erect a building in Plaza del Obradoiro, to house the Local Council, the prison and the Confessors Seminary. Claims brought by the Hospital Real delayed the work and caused a change in architect and a modification to the extension and height of the building. Finally, the French engineer Charles Lemaur began the work in 1767.

Pazo de Raxoi stands on a rectangular ground plan that closes off the Plaza del Obradoiro, built in granite ashlar and its Neoclassical style is clearly influenced by French Classicism. It consists of three floors and an attic. Its symmetrical main facade, with a portico with architraves on the lower floor, highlights the central and side structures with adjoining Colossal columns finished in pediments, the central one triangular and the side one semi-circular. On the tympanum of the central one there is an image of the battle of Clavijo, and is topped by a sculpture of St. James the Apostle on horseback, both by José Ferreiro.It is presently the Local Council building and Presidency of the Autonomous Governmen.

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Church of St Donatus

The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.

The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.

The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.

Pazo de Raxoi

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Church of St Donatus