The Sargadelos Galleries, whether owned or operated as a franchise, were conceived as a way of selling the products of the ceramics factories of Castro and Sargadelos, without depending on intermediaries, distributors or third-party traders. The idea was to control the whole process of the pieces, from their design to their sale.
The Galleries were conceived as a way of selling the products of the ceramics factories of Castro and Sargadelos.
Moreover, this also meant controlling the image of the Sargadelos brand and projecting the ideas with which the companies were conceived, through the design of the galleries, their furniture, spatial organisation and the type of cultural activities that would take place in them.
They were not conceived as mere shops, but also as bookstores and centres for the dissemination of Galician culture.
They were not conceived as mere shops, but also as bookstores and centres for the dissemination of Galician culture. They organised exhibitions on art and the history of Galicia, book presentations, conferences, poetic and musical recitals, and meetings of Galician cultural groups. In fact, for many years they became important centres for cultural promotion in the cities and towns of the country; they were Galician embassies abroad and focal points for the cultural activities of Galicians in cities such as Madrid and Barcelona.
In 1974 the Barcelona Gallery was opened with an exhibition of Galician books in Catalonia. Later the galleries spread to other Galician cities, Madrid, and some smaller towns in the country, and even reached Seville, Milan and Oporto.
In 1974 the Barcelona Gallery was opened with an exhibition of Galician books in Catalonia. A year later, the Madrid Gallery opened its doors, with an exhibition and a series of lectures entitled Presencia de Galicia (The Galician Presence); and in 1978, the one in Santiago de Compostela did so with an exhibition-homage to the Seminario de Estudos Galegos. Later the galleries spread to other Galician cities and some smaller towns in the country, and even reached Seville, Milan and Oporto.