The Xosé Neira Vilas Foundation, located in the parish of Gres in Vila de Cruces, occupies the birthplace house of the famous Galician writer Xosé Neira Vilas (1928–2015), an 18th-century rural house that retains the charm of traditional Galician architecture. The property was donated by the author himself to the Xunta de Galicia (Galician Regional Government) with the aim of creating a publicly accessible space dedicated to culture. After careful restoration led by architect César Portela, the house was adapted to house a library, an auditorium and an ethnographic museum, giving rise to the current Gres Cultural Centre, established in 1993 and now a foundation of Galician interest.
Today, the complex functions as a centre for cultural revitalisation, a meeting point for reading, research and artistic creation. The public library houses an important collection of literature, while the foundation organises book presentations, conferences, literary competitions and music recitals. These activities keep alive the educational and outreach vocation of Neira Vilas, who, together with his wife Anisia Miranda, dedicated his life to promoting the Galician language and culture both in Galicia and among the Galician diaspora.
One of the most noteworthy spaces of the complex is the ethnographic museum, which brings together more than 300 pieces related to traditional rural life: household objects, agricultural tools, beekeeping, carpentry and viticulture utensils, as well as school and domestic materials. This collection, carefully organised by theme, offers visitors a direct insight into rural Galicia, which inspired much of Neira Vilas' work, especially his famous novel Memorias dun neno labrego. In addition to preserving and disseminating the cultural legacy of Neira Vilas and Anisia Miranda, the foundation safeguards manuscripts, correspondence and photographs of the writer and today represents an essential reference point for learning about his career and better understanding the cultural history of contemporary rural Galicia.
