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Pazo de Turbisquedo

The Pazo de Turbisquedo is an 18th century stately manor house in the parish of San Cristovo do Souto in the municipality of A Peroxa, province of Orense, in Galicia, Spain. The estate sits on 6 hectares (13 acres) of gardens, fields, vegetable gardens and a cultivated oak and chestnut forest. Privately owned, it is thoughtfully restored and currently operated as a rural boutique hotel (bed & breakfast). It is located 9 kms (6 miles) northwest of Os Peares (confluence of the Miño, Sil and Bubal rivers), in the Ribiera Sacra wine growing region.

Description and History
Description:

The main building is constructed in the neo-classical style with clearly French influences, as was fashionable at the time by the introduction of the Bourbon dynasty to Spain, a few decades before. It is formed by a square floor plan three stories high, surrounding a central courtyard with fountain, reminiscent of a Roman villa. It is constructed almost entirely from solid granite blocks hewn by hand. The defensive tower and distinctive free-standing dome were subsequent additions. In addition to the manor house, the estate has various outbuildings, including a hay barn, grain silo, weavers cottage and winery.

History:

Construction of the main house is believed to have begin in 1731, by Bartolome Lopez, a well to do resident of Turbisquedo. It was finished some 40 years later by Julian Vazquez Gonzalez, his granddaughter's husband, who had family ties to Francisco Taboada Taboada-Camba, the second son of a nobleman residing in the village of Cepedo (then part of A Peroxa). These two elders arranged for the marriage of their respective grandchildren (Juan Antonio Taboada Vazquez and Maria Theresa Vazquez de Eyriz Vazquez). In this manner, the estate passed into the hands of the Taboada family, which established its seat there, residing in the Pazo for the ensuing two hundred years.

During the First Carlist War, the Pazo was badly damaged in an assault by Carlist troops the morning of November 13, 1836, during which Julian Taboada Vazquez de Eyriz, eldest son of the previously mentioned couple and Captain of the 6th Company of the National Militia (Milicia Nacional) was taken prisoner, handcuffed. He was executed by firing squad two days later, leaving a widow and four children under the age of ten. Reconstruction work on the manor house, including construction of the defensive tower, were carried out by his wife and mother (also widowed), Maria Manuela Vazquez Lorento and Maria Theresa Vazquez de Eyriz Vazquez, respectively.

Thirteen years earlier, in 1823, Juan Vazquez de Eyriz (Captain Taboada's maternal grandfather), was also assassinated at the Pazo de Turbisquedo by a band of thieves, having failed to reveal the whereabouts of his treasury.

Captain Taboada's descendants sold the property in 1991 to a consortium of local investors, who contributed the property to a corporation and began extensive renovation work, which continues to this day.