Antonio López y López sought to adapt his properties to his new social position after amassing a vast fortune in Cuba. He commissioned Catalan architect Joan Martorell to design a Neo-Gothic palace in the town of Comillas to attract King Alfonso XII to the area. The resulting building is a notable example of Catalan Modernista architecture, housing furniture designed by Antoni Gaudi and featuring walls covered in gold leaf.
Construction began in 1881 and continued until 1888, several years after the first Marquess died in 1883. The palace was intended to be the first building in Spain to be fitted with electric lighting for a planned royal visit. However, because the installation was not completed in time, King Alfonso XII stayed in the nearby Casa Ocejo instead. The palace today remains a protected Bien de Interés Cultural and is owned by the Government of Cantabria.
The building features a rectangular floor plan that blends English Perpendicular Gothic with Venetian Renaissance and Moorish decorative influences. Its facade is built in stone from Carrejo, featuring open galleries with trefoil arcades and columns crowned with sculpted finials. Inside, a monumental white marble staircase is lit by a polychrome stained glass skylight, and the central throne room features a coffered ceiling and walls covered in gold leaf.
Adjacent to the palace is the Chapel-Pantheon, completed in 1881. Despite its small size, it features a cathedral-like appearance with gargoyles and an ambulatory. The site contains sculptures by Joan Roig and Josep Llimona. The palace has also served as a filming location for various Spanish productions, including period dramas and television series like Galgos.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nicolo Ciampini
Discuss this with the author and others
No comments yet. Be the first to start the conversation.