{{short description|Traditional Spanish manor house}}{{More citations needed|date=November 2025}}[[File:Pazo de Meirás - Fachada principal.jpg|thumb|Pazo de Meirás in Sada (19th century), summer home of Francisco Franco]] A '''pazo''' ({{IPA|gl|ˈpa.θʊ|lang}}) is a type of Galician traditional house.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Meigas |first=Gestor Rutas |date=2025-02-04 |title=Pazos of Galicia: routes and experiences in historic places |url=https://rutasmeigas.com/pazos-of-galicia-routes-and-experiences-in-historic-places/ |access-date=2025-11-07 |website=Rutas Meigas |language=en-US}}</ref> Similar to a manor house, pazos are usually located in the countryside, as former residences of important people in the community (formerly of kings and nobility). They were of crucial importance in the 17th to 19th centuries,<ref name=":0" /> related to rural and monastic architecture and the system of feudal organization, and they constituted a type of local management unit around which the life of the villagers revolved. Over time they became the social symbol and refuge of the noble class, which Otero Pedrayo portrayed in his novels in the early 20th century.
The pazo, as a traditional civil architectural structure, was embedded in a social network: the servants of the nobleman and the taxpayers of the domain, who themselves came to live on the grounds of the pazo (mostly the former). A pazo usually consists of a main building surrounded by gardens, a dovecote and often includes outbuildings such as small chapels for religious celebrations. An example being the ''pazo de Cadro'' in Marin, the seat of the House of Romay, which had a chapel dedicated to Santa Barbara.
The word ''pazo'' is a cognate of stately ''palace'', and comes from the Latin ''palatiu(m)''. As a curiosity, in Portuguese, which is closely related to the Galician language, the word for ''palace'' is ''paço'' (instead of ''palácio''). In this regard, the Paço Imperial in Rio de Janeiro, built in the 18th century, is an example of the Portuguese counterpart of this type of building.
==Gallery== <gallery mode=packed> File:PazoDaTrave.jpg|Pazo da Trave, Viveiro File:Pazo Baión.jpg|Pazo Baión, Vilanova de Arousa File:Pazo de Pousadouro.JPG|Pazo de Pousadouro, Redondela File:Pazo Pondal.jpg|Pazo Pondal, Ponteceso File:Cambados 060905 Pazo de Fefiñáns.jpg|Pazo de Fefiñáns, Cambados File:Pazo de Oca.JPG|Pazo de Oca, A Estrada File:Pazo Bermúdez de Castro.jpg|Pazo Bermúdez de Castro, Cotobade File:Pazo de Leis, O Barro, A Baña.jpg|Pazo de Leis, A Baña File:Casa grande de lentille.JPG|Casa grande de Lentille en Cenlle File:Pazo de Mos-01-1.jpg|Pazo de Mos, Mos File:Pontevedra, Galiza. Pazo de Lourizán.jpg|Pazo de Lourizán, Pontevedra File:Pazo do Piñeiro.jpg|Pazo do Piñeiro, en Pesqueiras, Chantada. File:San_Miguel_das_Penas_Pazo_e_Torre.JPG|Tower and pazo de San Miguel das Penas, Monterroso </gallery>
== See also == * Galicia
== References == {{Reflist}}{{Architecture of Spain}}
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Category:Culture of Galicia (Spain) Category:Housing in Spain Category:Manor houses in Spain Category:Buildings and structures in Galicia (Spain) Category:Vernacular architecture