Page 34 - Traveling 71 eng

RIBADEO INDIANO
Ribadeo
indiano
Memory carved in stone
Words: Rosario Alonso - Photos: Jose A. Muñoz
High on the Mariña Lucense, Ribadeo looks
out over the Cantabrian Sea with a quiet ele-
gance. A seaport and point of departure, for
decades it was the starting point for many
young Galicians who crossed the Atlantic in
search of a better life. The indiano history
of Ribadeo is not told through heroic deeds
or epic dates, but in returns: in the intimate
decision to come back and transform what is
one’s own. These returns—some quiet, others
triumphant—gradually shaped a unique heri-
tage, which today makes Ribadeo one of the
most remarkable ensembles of indiano archi-
tecture in the north of the peninsula
Indiano building on San Roque Street
34 -
A town open to the sea and to the
world
Ribadeo, in the northeast of Lugo, has been a key
commercial and maritime enclave since the Midd-
le Ages. Its port facilitated trade with England and
France, and from the eighteenth century onwards,
it became an embarkation point for hundreds of
emigrants. America was not just an idea—it was
a real horizon. Many people from Ribadeo set out
for Cuba, Argentina, Uruguay, or Mexico. Some re-
turned enriched, and with them, they brought more
than money: they brought a new way of seeing.
That return, which in other Galician towns was
more restrained, here resulted in a determined
drive to renew the urban landscape. The San
Roque district, connecting the historic centre with
the upper part of the town, was transformed into
a showcase of modernity. There, the indianos
built rental houses and family residences, many
surrounded by gardens with palm trees, acacias,
or camellias. It was not just about building: it was
about leaving a mark
An eclectic style full of personality
Indiano architecture in Ribadeo does not follow a
single style, but rather a combination of influen-
ces: colonial, modernist, French-inspired, Central
European. The façades blend stone and stucco,
the roofs are pitched, and many houses feature
glazed galleries, circular towers, or balconies
with vegetal ornamentation. Wrought-iron rai-
lings, large windows, and light colours abound,
quite distinct from the usual grey of the Galician
landscape, always evoking the light and hope of
distant shores.
One of the earliest houses is the Casa de Sela,
built in 1869 by a returnee who had lived in Mexi-
co. Its simple façade and garden with tropical
species set a precedent: formal sobriety combi-
ned with botanical exoticism. Later on, mansions
such as the Casa del Óptico, with its unique tower
lookout, or the Rodríguez Murias buildings, de-
signed as rentals and decorated with geometric
filigree and Art Deco details, would follow.
The use of new materials such as white ce-
ment, large-scale glass, and decorative ironwork
allowed architects to introduce previously unseen
forms to the town. Instead of simply copying fo-
reign models, in Ribadeo these were reinterpre-
ted with personality, integrating them into a lands-
cape of gentle slopes and salty breezes. The
result is an urban ensemble that is harmonious,
coherent, yet full of nuance