El palacio del Marqués de Villena en Valladolid

El palacio del Marqués de Villena, o simplemente palacio de Villena, is a palace in the city of Valladolid located at Calle Cadenas de San Gregorio nº 2, in front of the Colegio de San Gregorio. Its construction began in the mid-16th century. The building was commissioned by Antonio de Velasco y Rojas and his wife Francisca de Silva to Francisco de Salamanca, a renowned architect who was responsible for reconstructing the Plaza Mayor de Valladolid.

Emperor Carlos V stayed at this palace on numerous occasions, as it is situated very close to the Palacio de Pimentel, where his son Felipe II was born. Today, the palace is integrated into the complex housing the Museo Nacional de Escultura. It houses the library, the conference room, the restoration workshops, the storage area, and the Belén napolitano.

From the original composition, the palace retains the facade, which features a large entrance arch with large stone blocks and a regia ventana with the owner's coat of arms. It also preserves the entrance hall, the 305 m² courtyard with two floors of semi-circular arches, and the main staircase open to the cloister, which features three different sections and a beautiful wooden ceiling.

The lateral towers are later additions dating from the 19th century, when the palace underwent a major renovation. Over more than four centuries of history, the palace has passed through successive inheritances between families, including the wife of the Marqués de Villena in the 17th century and subsequently the Condes de Bagaes.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons