At the beginning of 1760, Archbishop Rajoy comissioned Lucas Ferro Caaveiro to design the plans to erect a building in Plaza del Obradoiro, to house the Local Council, the prison and the Confessors Seminary. Claims brought by the Hospital Real delayed the work and caused a change in architect and a modification to the extension and height of the building. Finally, the French engineer Charles Lemaur began the work in 1767.
Pazo de Raxoi stands on a rectangular ground plan that closes off the Plaza del Obradoiro, built in granite ashlar and its Neoclassical style is clearly influenced by French Classicism. It consists of three floors and an attic. Its symmetrical main facade, with a portico with architraves on the lower floor, highlights the central and side structures with adjoining Colossal columns finished in pediments, the central one triangular and the side one semi-circular. On the tympanum of the central one there is an image of the battle of Clavijo, and is topped by a sculpture of St. James the Apostle on horseback, both by José Ferreiro.It is presently the Local Council building and Presidency of the Autonomous Governmen.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.