The Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea is a space for cultural dissemination whose function is to invigorate the current artistic scene and reflect on the diversity of cultural conformations in contemporary society. Created in 1993, this center is part of the policy that emerged in Spain from the 1980s to promote the development of cultural platforms and encourage the entry of Galicia into the international artistic circuit. Since its inception, the CGAC has shown the guidelines of art of recent decades through retrospective exhibitions of internationally recognized artists alongside exhibitions dedicated to disseminating Galician art, including both established and emerging authors. 

Designed by the Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza Vieira between 1988 and 1993, the CGAC is located in one of the most sensitive and evocative monumental areas of Santiago de Compostela, on the edge of the historic center, very close to the convent and church of San Domingos de Bonaval. The building, which is characterized by dialogue with the history of the city, reflects the admiration of its creator for rationalism and the modern movement. The line, light and volume combine to give way to an austere and serene architecture that connects with the Galician tradition using its quintessential building material, granite stone, used both on the exterior walls and on the roof of the building. In fact, Álvaro Siza chooses to present the blind façade of the center as a high granite wall that delimits the convent grounds, thus closing the corner facing Rúa da Caramoniña, a beautiful and old road that ascends the hill and that currently fell into disuse.

The development scheme is canonical: three floors, one underground and two upper; a central corridor that separates the exhibition spaces from those intended for other services, and that is for public use in the levels of the exhibition halls; and finally a terrace open to the cityscape conceived as a sculpture garden.