Palace of Infante don Luis

The Palace of Infante don Luis (Spanish: Palacio del Infante don Luis) is a neoclassic style palace located in Boadilla del Monte, Community of Madrid, Spain built between 1763 and 1765. It was declared Bien de Interés Cultural in 1974.

The building responds to an initiative of the Infante Luis of Spain, the youngest of the sons of King Felipe V and brother of Carlos III, who took over the lordship of Boadilla in 1761, taking advantage of the economic difficulties he was going through. Josefa Micaela de Mirabal, 3rd Marquise of Mirabal, to whom the area was assigned.

The current palace stands on the former palace of the Two Towers, residence of the aforementioned marquisate, which was integrated into the structure from a design by Ventura Rodríguez made in 1763. The works were executed at a very rapid pace, leaving the building practically completed in 1765, as it appears on a tombstone commemorating the end of construction, placed on the main façade.

The palace was the main residence of the Infante Don Luis from 1765 to 1776, the year of his morganatic marriage with María Teresa de Vallabriga, after which he moved to the Palacio de la Mosquera, in Arenas de San Pedro. Among its inhabitants was the musician Luigi Boccherini, who was under the protection of the infante during his stay in Spain. During the following years the palace belonged to his descendants the Dukes of Alcudia and Sueca.

During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) the construction suffered considerable damage, in addition to the loss of numerous works of art. In 1974 it was declared a National Monument, being expropriated in 1998 to the last owner, Enrique Jaime Ruspoli Morenés, 19th Count of Bañares son of the Dukes, by the City Council of Boadilla del Monte, who had planned to install in its dependencies the headquarters of the European Institute of Higher Studies of Culture and Communication.

The palace has an elongated rectangular floor plan (17 x 80 m approximately) with the main entrance façade facing the Northwest and the rear façade facing the south-east facing garden. It has a built area of 6,302.15 m2. It is articulated in three main bodies, raised to three heights, to which are added two secondary bodies, of a single height, flanking the two sides.

Text adapted from “Palace of Infante don Luis” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Palace of Infante don Luis ranks #2,592 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #95 of the 603 mapped in Spain. Founded 1765, it is older than 16% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 556 atlas entries founded in the 18th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,621 times in the last 60 days, more than 61% of the atlas. 18 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Madrid, 14 km away. It is stop 13 of 28 on the Castile castle route, Valladolid to Madrid. See how Spain compares in the castle statistics.

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