Pontevedra City Museum

The project for the Santa Clara Convent wasn’t just another renovation; it was the challenge of integrating a site that had been closed off to the city of Pontevedra for over 750 years.

Santa Clara is an oasis in the heart of the city, but until now, it was an invisible space protected by high stone walls. The Pontevedra Museum needed to expand its facilities, and this historic complex was the perfect location. The main challenge, however, was significant: how do you transform a cloistered convent into a public museum without losing its soul and mysticism?

Nieto Sobejano’s winning proposal, titled “Dintel” (Lintel), was remarkably subtle. Instead of bold gestures that would compete with history, they focused on the concept of a new “lintel”—a new facade that respects the existing walls while allowing the garden and the convent to finally open up to the city. The intervention is mostly tucked underground to connect the buildings, keeping the historic orchard and cloister intact while providing modern functionality.

Our visual approach was deeply rooted in respect and the specific Galician atmosphere. We weren’t looking for generic, sunny images; we wanted to capture the texture of damp stone, the passage of time on the granite, and that soft, filtered light characteristic of cloistered spaces.

Our imagery focused on the dialogue between the old and the new. We wanted the viewer to feel the silence of the convent living alongside the lightness of the new glass and metal structures. Ultimately, our goal was to show that the project doesn’t come to “break” anything, but rather to reveal a treasure that Pontevedra always had right there, but could never see.