MANUEL ÁNGEL BUGALLO OTERO & CRISTINA VILLAVERDE RUIBAL
Type
RESEARCH
Architecture & symbols of Laxedo
Laxedo, located at the foot of the Serra do Cando, is not just a geographical space with morphological and functional characteristics typical of this area of Galicia. To speak of this place is to speak of Mr. Manuel Barreiro Cabanelas, an illustrious resident who emigrated to Brazil. His privileged social status allowed him to be in direct contact with the urban reality of Rio de Janeiro for decades, nourishing himself with the modern intellectual thought of the time.
In a period between 1900 and 1936, he applied a series of urban principles of European and American influence present in the city of Rio de Janeiro – Beaurepaire, Comissão de Melhoramentos, Pereira Passos and Agache – that would change Laxedo forever. The study carried out combines an understanding of the urban metabolism of the nucleus through its history and its traditional rural dynamics, emigration, vernacular architecture, urban influence and the Masonic symbolism of sculpture linked to the urban layout giving meaning to the place.
