The Ciudad de la Cultura (left) and the old city

Along with the traditional spaces in Santiago de Compostela there is the Ciudad de la Cultura, a new element that in part tries to emulate the tourist success of a similar initiative, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. In 1999 the regional government launches an international architectural competition, won by american Peter Eisenman. The proposed project, on a nearby hill, is disconnected from the continuous urban tissue, and covers an area (677.000 sq m) nearly as large as the whole old city, reproducing partially the original elevation.

Ciudad de la Cultura (left) and Vatican City at the same scale