Xesús Taboada Chivite

Category: Educator and researcher
Birth Date: In 1907
Birth Place: Verín (Ourense)
 Curriculum

After studying in his native village and in Ourense, he moved with her mother, who was a widower, to Madrid. After studying Secondary Education at Cardenal Cisneros Secondary School, he began to study at the Official Telegraphy School and then at the Commerce Higher School in Madrid. In 1930 to the Post Office of Ourense and this period of his life was very important for him as he got in touch with the Galician culture of the ‘Generación Nós’ (Vicente Risco, Otero Pedrayo and Florentino López Cuevillas). Once the Spanish Civil War was over, he started his research and teaching activity in Verín, focusing his interest in Galician history and ethnography. In 1951, he took a degree in Philosophy and Arts (Geography and History Section) at the University of Santiago de Compostela.

 Work & Activities

As an archaeologist, he was a follower of Cuevillas’s work. He published a lot of works all around Galicia and Portugal, where he was respected as a member of many scientific institutions. In his office of the archaeology and prehistory section of the Institute of Galician Studies, he was responsible for the protection of the Galician artistic and archaeological heritage.
 
BOOKS:
-“Varones ilustres de la comarca veronense”, Bolaños y Aguilar, Madrid (1946).
-“Monterrey”, Padre Sarmiento Institute of Galician Studies, C.S.I.C., Madrid (1960).
-“Folklore de Verín. Las creencias y el saber popular”, La Región, Ourense (1961).
-“Los Castillos”, Cuadernos de Arte Gallego, nº 24, Ed. Castrelos, Vigo (1963).
-“Escuelta Celto-Romana”, Cuadernos de Arte Gallego, nº 30 (1965).
-“Guía de Monterrey”, Artes Gráficas Faro de Vigo, Vigo (2nd ed. 1972, 3rd ed. 1974, 4th ed. 1977).
-“Etnografía Galega (Cultura espiritual)”, Ed. Galaxia, Vigo (1972).
ARTICLES:
He was the author of these articles, among many others:
-“El castro de Medeiros”, in Boletín de la Comisión de Monumentos de Orense, T. XV, Fasc. II (1945).
-“Monterrey. Resumen histórico y arqueológico”, Boletín del Museo Arqueológico de Orense, T. III (1946).
-“Los tres conventos de Monterrey”, in Boletín de la Comisión de Monumentos de Orense, T. XVII (1951).
-“A Alta Idade Median a região superior do Támega”, in Revista de Guimarães, T. LXVI (1956).
-“Excavaciones arqueológicas en el castro de Cabanca (campaña de 1961)” (in collaboration with Joaquín Lorenzo), in Noticiario Arqueológico Hispánico, T.VI (1962).
-“Las leyendas de la laguna de Antela”, in Cuadernos de Estudios Gallegos, T. XXIV, 72-73-74 (1969).
-“A reconquista e a súa consolidación na bisbarra de Baronceli”, in Cuadernos de Estudios Gallegos, T. XXVIII, 86 (1973).
-“Ceremoniales ígnicos y folklore del fuego en Galicia”, in II Congreso de Artes y Costumbres Populares en Córdoba in May 1971 (1974).
-“A vida e a obra de Xesús Ferro Couselo”, in Boletín Auriense, T. V (1975).

 Other Interesting Aspects

MERITS AND DISTINCTIONS:

-Local commissioner for archaeological excavations.

-Member of the Royal Academy of History.

-Member of the Galician Royal Academy.

-Member of the Spanish Association of Ethnology and Folklore.

-Member of the Associaçao dos Arqueologos Portugueses.

-Official chronicler of Verín.

-Art delegate in Verín.

-Director of the Archaeology and Prehistory Section of Padre Sarmiento Institute of Galician Studies.

-Director of the Archaeology Section of Boletín Auriense.

-Director of the Ethnography Section in Gran Enciclopedia Galega.

-Honorary director of the Historic and Geographic Institute of Uruguaiana.

-Honorary citizen of Verín.

-Member and treasurer of the Provincial Commission of Monuments in Ourense.

-Member of Portuguese Academy of History.

-Member of the Spanish Association for the Study of the Quaternary (Barcelona)

-Member of the Societé Internacionale D'Ethnologie et de Folklore of Paris.

-Member of the Galician Royal Academy.

-Member of the Spanish Society of Anthropology, Prehistory and Ethnography.

-Patron of the Museo del Pueblo Español (Madrid).

-Vice-president of the patronage of the Museo do Pobo Galego.

-Member of the Centre for Tourist Initiatives in Ourense.
Owing to the centenary of his birth, a lot of cultural events were celebrated in 2009, as for example the one that took place in his native village from 15th to 20th September 2009.