Castle Map

Palace

Palau de la Generalitat

Spain · 14th century

Founded
1400
Style
Renaissance architecture
Architect
Pere Blai
Heritage status
Cultural Asset of National Interest · bien de interés cultural
Location
Gothic Quarter
Coordinates
41.38278°, 2.17667°
Links
OpenStreetMap · Wikimedia Commons
Open on the map →Wikipedia ↗
Palau de la Generalitat in Spain
Photo: Jan Harenburg · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Description

The Palace of the Generalitat of Catalonia (Catalan: Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya, IPA: [pəˈlaw ðə lə ʒənəɾəliˈtad də kətəˈluɲə]; Spanish: Palacio de la Generalidad de Cataluña) is a historic palace in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It houses the offices of the Presidency of the Generalitat de Catalunya. It is one of the few buildings of medieval origin in Europe that still functions as a seat of government and houses the institution that originally built it.

The palace is located in the district of Ciutat Vella in Barcelona. It is bounded by the Carrer del Bisbe, Carrer de Sant Sever and Carrer de Sant Honorat. Its principal façade gives onto the Plaça de Sant Jaume, across from the City Hall of Barcelona.

The original building was purchased in 1400 by then-president Alfons de Tous. It was located on the Carrer de Sant Honorat, in the former Jewish Quarter, or Call. The first extension (in the year 1416) faced the street and was carried out by Bishop Marc Safont, who also built the chapel of St. George, in 1434.

In 1596, Pere Blai designed the current principal façade on the Plaça de Sant Jaume, in the Renaissance style. This is the first grand façade of this architectural style in Catalonia. Thereafter, several other houses were purchased and integrated into the palace.

Text adapted from “Palace of the Generalitat of Catalonia” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

In the rankings

Palau de la Generalitat ranks #1,285 of 9,902 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #47 of the 646 mapped in Spain. Founded 1400, it is older than 51% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 797 atlas entries founded in the 14th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 3,866 times in the last 60 days, more than 85% of the atlas. 14 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Barcelona, 1 km away. See how Spain compares in the castle statistics.

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