Focus on this artwork and analyze the History.
The sculptural group is located in the place where the Alhóndiga or municipal grain market was in the Middle Ages. The central statue recalls the medieval Civil Servant (hired by the town hall) who, at the entrance to the walls of Pontevedra, near the Bastida Tower, faithfully contrasted with his scales the weights and measures of the goods that were to be sold in the city.Until the 16th century, the Alhóndiga was located where the Pontevedra City Hall is today. At the entrance to the Alhóndiga, the Fiel Contraste was responsible for checking the weights and measures of all the goods that arrived there to be sold. The taxes on the market depended on the verification of the weight of bread or cereals or the measures of wine. The disappearance of this profession occurred with the unification of weights and measures brought about by the Bourbon administration, with the appearance of the metric system and, finally, with the inauguration of the current City Hall in 1880.
The commercial and fishing boom in Pontevedra had boosted the holding of markets in the city, notably the Feira Franca granted to Pontevedra in 1467 by King Henry IV of Castile, when the city was the main port in Galicia.
Bourbon Middle Ages Feira Franca 16th century City Hall King Henry IV of Castile Pontevedra City Hall Henry IV of Castile Pontevedra medieval Civil Servant grain market