Liria Palace

The Liria Palace (Spanish: Palacio de Liria) is a neoclassical palace in Madrid, Spain. It is the Madrid residence of the Dukes of Alba.

Built around 1770 to a design by the architect Ventura Rodríguez, it was commissioned by James Fitz-James Stuart, 3rd Duke of Berwick, who was also the 3rd Duke of Liria (hence the name of the palace). In the early 19th century it passed to the inheritance of the House of Alba. On 19 March 1833, a fire broke out at Liria Palace, destroying part of its archive. Eugénie de Montijo, last empress consort of the French, died here in 1920.

All but the facades were destroyed during the Spanish Civil War. It was subsequently rebuilt by Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, 17th Duke of Alba and his daughter Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba who was head of the House of Alba from 1955 to 2014. The British architect Edwin Lutyens had been commissioned by the 17th Duke to provide designs for the interior. Lutyens was in contact with the Duke in the 1940s and the reconstruction, although it took place after the architect's death, made use of his drawings.

Although the 18th Duchess of Alba's official residence was the Liria Palace, in later life she preferred the Palacio de las Dueñas in Seville, where she died. Her son and heir Carlos Fitz-James Stuart, 19th Duke of Alba resides at the Liria Palace. On September 19, 2019, the family decided to open the doors of the palace to the public and allow guided tours. It is one of the few inhabited palaces that can be visited, since Carlos, the current duke, and his brother Fernando reside there.

The gardens were designed by prestigious landscapers and architects of the time, such as Ventura Rodríguez himself, Sabatini and the French architect and landscaper Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier. The gardens, originally in the formal French style, were remodeled in the romantic English style. The front, initially conceived as an esplanade, was planted with chestnut trees, mimosas, yews and pomegranate trees. The back of the palace is reserved for the original more geometric garden in the style of Versailles, with flower beds outlined by hedges. It underwent various changes in the 18th and 19th centuries.

In 1916, the 17th Duke of Alba commissioned Forestiere to recover the 18th-century style of the back part of the garden, which can only be seen from the balconies facing north.

Text adapted from “Liria Palace” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Liria Palace ranks #857 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #33 of the 600 mapped in Spain. Founded 1770, it is older than 15% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 525 atlas entries founded in the 18th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 8,364 times in the last 60 days, more than 91% of the atlas. 17 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Madrid, 1 km away. See how Spain compares in the castle statistics.

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