Art at Paradores takes many forms. Our art collection not only comprises paintings and sculptures, but also encompasses other disciplines, in line with our mission as guardians of heritage in its fullest extent. Among the examples of this variety is the Parador de Santo Estevo, which combines its monumental building with an interior design concept in which contemporary furniture design features prominently.
The Parador de Santo Estevo is located in a monastery that dates back to the 6th century, associated with San Martín Durmiense, the "Apostle of the Swabians", and which has undergone numerous additions over the centuries, thus becoming a melting pot of Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance forms. The complex has up to three interior cloisters, two of them, the Viveiro and the knights' cloisters, built in the 16th century, and houses a beautiful interior garden.
However, the most interesting aspect of this building is the combination of historicist monumentality with a commitment to innovation and contemporary forms, both in the paintings that decorate the walls and in the furnishings that give the parador its cohesion.
Santo Estevo is a hallmark of contemporary design in the Parador network, as when this establishment was opened in 2004, it was decided to decorate it with an impressive repertoire of modern-style furniture, which recovers the designs of artists from the 1940s with enormous prestige in this country and internationally, such as Verner Panton, Harry Bertoia, Hugo Henrik Alvar Aalto, Tom Dixon, Mies Van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier. In them, utility and beauty merge, giving rise to seats in which originality is manifested in unlikely and attractive forms.
Santo Estevo is full of hidden treasures to be discovered. Inside, you can also discover unique pieces, such as the ancient granite altar carved with the figures of Christ and the twelve apostles, which can be found in the church annexed to it. This work, dating from the 12th-13th centuries, is also one of the oldest depictions of Saint James as a pilgrim.
