Palacio de la Mosquera
The Palacio de la Mosquera (sometimes also called Palacio del Infante don Luis ) planned and built towards the end of the 18th century was the last residence of Prince Luis de Borbón y Farnesio , the youngest brother of the Spanish King Charles III. Since 2010 it has been recognized as a 'national cultural asset' ( Bien de Interés Cultural ).
location
The palace is located on the small Mosquera hill on the outskirts of the small town of Arenas de San Pedro in the province of Avila . The area belongs to the southern foothills of the Sierra de Gredos and was suitable as a residence due to its altitude (510 meters above sea level) and the surrounding forests, which together with the mountains in the hinterland always provided fresh air.
history
Since Luis de Bourbón, the youngest son of Philip V, had no prospects of a throne, his family chose an ecclesiastical career for him - he was elected by Pope Clement XII in 1735 at the age of eight . appointed Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Archbishop of Toledo . Six years later (1741) he was also appointed Archbishop of Seville . However, since he had no great inclinations towards church affairs and was more interested in art, music and dance as well as in hunting and fencing, he renounced his church dignities and income. In 1761 he acquired the town of Boadilla del Monte and other lands in the surrounding area from the Marquesa de Mirabal for just under 1.2 million reales - a sum that roughly corresponded to his earlier income as Archbishop of Toledo . At the same time he acquired the neighboring county of Chinchón from his brother Felipe . A short time later, he commissioned the architect Ventura Rodríguez with the construction of a palace , which, with its little articulated, elongated facade and largely renouncing baroque ornamentation , must be regarded as a late straggler of the Escorial .
After his unsuitable love marriage with the 18-year-old María Teresa de Vallabriga in 1776, however, the aging Luis de Borbón preferred a suitable residence at the foot of the mountains. He commissioned Ventura Rodríguez again - this time at Arenas de San Pedro in the province of Ávila - to plan and build a palace - so the Palacio de la Mosquera came into being, where his wife bore him three children. As in Boadilla, Luis de Borbón received numerous illustrious guests in the last years of his life in his new palace, including the painter Francisco de Goya and the composer Luigi Boccherini .
Shortly after the builder's death (1785), the palace was no longer used; all furniture was removed. During the Napoleonic period it was used as a troop camp and later as a seminary. It has belonged to the municipality since 1988, but it still has no realizable ideas about its further use.
architecture
The architecture of the building is reminiscent of the Escorial - even more than the palace in Boadilla del Monte: The three-storey exterior, which is elevated by corner towers, is defined by clear and unadorned lines. There are no vertical dividing elements such as risalits or pilaster strips ; Two cautiously dimensioned cornices are used as horizontal structures . The framing of the windows and the barely highlighted entrance portal are simple and without decoration.
In the middle of the four-sided and almost prison-like sparse-looking inner courtyard is a fountain with a pyramid - here, too, a complete renunciation of the figural and vegetable baroque decorative elements that were common at the time. The pillars of the vestibule as well as the main staircase and the individual rooms are also characterized by straightforward simplicity.
The garden ground floor with its geometrically laid out beds fits in with the severity of the building . Only a portal that leads down to the garden shows a classicist structure with column structures and round windows ( oculi ) above the side passages.
Web links
- Palacio de la Mosquera - floor plans + photos of the interiors
- Palacio de la Mosquera - photos of the interiors
Coordinates: 40 ° 12 '56 " N , 5 ° 5' 52" W.