The College-turned-government-seat: Palacio de San Esteban

The Palacio de San Esteban, now the seat of the Presidency and the Council of Government of the Region of Murcia, Spain, was once a college of the Company of Jesus founded by Bishop Esteban de Almeyda in 1555. It became a center for humanistic and scientific studies in the late 16th century. Two significant figures of the Kingdom of Murcia, Francisco Cascales and Francisco Salzillo, were educated in the college. After the expulsion of the jesuitas from Spain in 1767, the college was used as a quarters for a company of Dragones de la Reina.

In 1777, the Casa de Misericordia was established in the college. Declared a Monumento Nacional in 1931, the college was facing demolition in 1972 due to its poor state of ruin. In 1984, it was converted into the seat of the Presidency and the Council of Government Autonomous. Today, the iglesia de San Esteban is used as a temporary exhibition hall, and the antiguos huertos de la Compañía were transformed into the Jardín Público de San Esteban.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons