Palacio de Gondomar

Home and place of birth of Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, Count of Gondomar, who received the title of Felipe III. This Pazo was presumably built on the remains of a mediaeval fortress. During the reign of Felipe II, the Count was one of the most important figures of Spanish diplomacy, and was appointed Spain’s Ambassador in London. During the Count’s lifetime, the Pazo enjoyed its age of greatest splendour, with land surrounded by a wall that went as far as the doors of what is currently the Town Hall of Gondomar. A fire in the 18th century caused serious damage to the Pazo, which was restored in the 19th century by the heirs of the Galician nobleman, already related by marriage to one of the most prestigious lineages of Spanish nobility, the Fernández de Córdoba family, descendants of the Gran Capitán, with which this county joined the titles of the Duke of Medinaceli