The palace of Gelmirez is the former episcopal palace of the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. It was built by Diego Gelmírez, archbishop of Santiago between 1120 and 1136, although only the doors leading to the basilica remain from the original building: the Gramaticos door, the Tower door and the tribune door.

After being the provisional seat of the Galician Parliament - from its constitution on 19 December 19811 until it was moved to the pazo of Fonseca in the summer of 1982 - it now has a new museum use, integrated within the area of the Museum of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

Gelmirez had it built to replace the old archbishop's palace located on the Platerías façade, dating from between 830 and 880, which had been practically destroyed in the uprisings that took place in Santiago de Compostela in 1117.

The building is aligned with the Romanesque western façade of the cathedral, with three floors. Beyond this entrance you can see the original Romanesque portico, now hidden behind the new 18th-century façade. On the ground floor is the Hall of Arms, with the vestibule on one side (adjacent to the cathedral tower) and the palace arch to the north; this hall is divided by columns composed of four thinner columns in two naves with five bays, and with groin vaults.

The courtyard that follows leads to the stairs leading up to the Ceremonial or Synodial Hall, built between 1253 and 1266 by the master builder Peter Boneth over the parlour of arms and the palace arch. It is a large, open-plan hall with a rectangular floor plan, divided into six lowered sections, with tripartite ribbed vaults. The ribs of the vaults are supported by splayed arches, and important corbels are embedded in the side walls.

The tour of the corbels begins with the one in the centre of the north apse, which depicts a figure standing with his hands outstretched in prayer, dressed in broad robes. It is thought to represent a priest. He is flanked by two servants in short tunics: the one on the left holds a vessel, partly veiled by a cloth draped over his shoulder, while the one on the right carries a kind of soup tureen.

The one on the western wall, closer to the apse, shows a figure seated at a table, covered with a tablecloth, and attended by four servants. The corbelling located opposite, perhaps by the same artist, is the only one in the room that repeats the same ornamentation, as the tureen is uncovered, also depicting a servant with bread.

In the third cornet, the subject, the arrangement and the artist change. In the centre, two seated figures play an organistrum; the edges of their clothes are ornamented and their heads are crowned with gems. On the left, a new musician plays an oval fiddle that rests on his legs; the one on the right lacks the arms; both are sheltered by arches, an arrangement that is repeated in the corbels that form a pair with it, the only ones with such an arrangement. The next one on the western side is decorated with three angels with unfurled wings and haloed heads holding up signs with different epigraphs. One reads: "VIR FIDELIS/ CORONABITVR IN CELIS", which translated from Latin means that the faithful man will be crowned in heaven, and the other: "QVOT TIBI NON VIS FIERI/ ALTERI NE FACIAS", which translates as "What you do not want for yourself, do not do to another".

In the fifth, scenes from a banquet are again depicted. On the other side, a bearded soldier, dressed in chain mail and wearing a helmet on his head, protects his chest with a shield and defends himself with a broken sword, which he thrusts into a four-legged animal, possibly a bear, with which he is fighting. The beast stands on its hind legs and has one of its front legs on the warrior's shield.

In the next one, the seated and crowned couple is repeated, although now without a musical instrument in their hands. The one on the left has a broken arm and with his right hand holds a long dagger or unsheathed short sword, the point of which rests on his chest; his companion, also mutilated, probably held a dagger and rests his other hand on his knee. On either side is a servant seated on a low chair with his feet crossed, holding a circular object in his hands, with a button at the top; on the other side a musician, also seated and with his legs crossed, holds a new zither in his hands.

On the penultimate corbel of the eastern wall, three musicians are depicted standing, shod and wearing tunics halfway up their legs. The one in the centre covers his head with a cap and carries a harp; another one, a fiddle; finally, the third one blows on a double flute, an instrument that can be seen in the main door of the monastery of San Lorenzo de Carboeiro and in the Elders of the Portico del Paraíso in the cathedral of Ourense. The last cornet shows again some diners similar to the one in front; one of the servants holds a pile of four loaves of bread in his hands; the other holds a pitcher and they are about to serve the drink.