King Alfonso II founded the Monastery of San Paio de Antealtares in the year 830. It fell into decay at the end of the 13th century, and in ruins, the Catholic Monarchs eliminated it and included it into S. Martín Pinario. In 1495, Gómez de Marzoa´s efforts to set up a college for poor students led to the monastery becoming Compostela´s first school and the origin of Galicia´s Renaissance University. The Order of benedictine nuns occupied it as of 1499.
The present-day building, in baroque style, appeared between 1599 and 1744. Fernández Lechuga the closing wall of La Quintana as a large, undecorated canavas, gicving the sensation of perfection and grandeur; Velasco Agüero built the other walls of the cloister and doorway facade, with a monumental doorwayframed by four giant order Doric columns; Fernando de Casas y Novoa extended the building to the Carros Gateway, finished by Lucas Ferro Caaveiro and known as 'Puerta de la Borriquita' (the Donkey Gateway), thanks to the relief image of the Flight to Egypt (Francisco de Lens, circa. 1750). Church (Friar Gabriel de las Casas, 1703-07) in cut-stone granite and tiled, two-sided roof. Greek cross ground plan extended at the western end to accommodate the choir. Simple, monumental facade with the figure of St. Pelayo Martyr. Interior covered with a dome over pendentives. Main retable by Castro Canseco.
References:The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.
The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick.