Praza do Obradoiro takes its name from the stonemasons' workshops that filled this square during the 1700s, when Fernando de Casas Novoa completed the cathedral's baroque façade in 1740. The word itself, "obradoiro," means workshop in Galician, and for decades the square rang with the sound of chisels on granite as craftsmen carved the elaborate decorations that now tower above you.

Today it's the endpoint of the Camino de Santiago, where exhausted pilgrims stack their backpacks against the arcade of the Pazo de Raxoi and stare up at what they've walked hundreds of kilometres to reach.

The square's four monumental buildings represent the four pillars of Galician life: the cathedral for religion, the Hostal dos Reis Católicos for care of pilgrims, the Pazo de Raxoi for government, and the Colegio de San Xerome for education. Together they span more than 700 years of architectural history, from Romanesque to neoclassical. Eight granite rays radiate from the centre, where a plaque marks this as kilometre zero of Europe's first Cultural Itinerary.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tour begins here, revealing the intricate blend of Romanesque, Gothic and baroque elements that make the cathedral facade a masterpiece of Compostela baroque style, explaining the symbolism embedded in every carved stone, and tracing how this square became the emotional and spiritual terminus for one of Christianity's most enduring pilgrimages.