Plaza de Monterrey
15 minutes
Located in the city center, very close to Plaza Mayor and next to the Monterrey Palace. Its gardens also house a sculpture by Agustín Casillas, a tribute to Prince Juan, who had strong ties to the city.
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Free visit price
- Individual - 0.00 €
The Monterrey Palace, located in the center of the city of Salamanca, was built in the Italian Renaissance style by Don Alonso de Zúñiga y Acevedo Fonseca, III Count of Monterrey. Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón and Fray Martín de Santiago sketched the plans for the palace, and Pedro de Ibarra and Pedro de Miguel y Aguirre began construction on January 18, 1539. Since then, it would become one of the most representative works of the Spanish Renaissance, although it is an unfinished building as its complete project was much larger. Its architecture symbolizes the great nobility of the Spanish Golden Age.
The project envisioned a quadrangular building with three floors and a central courtyard, with towers at each corner and in the center of each wing. Ultimately, only one of the wings, the south one, was built. At the corners, lions and chimerical animals, designed by Fray Martín de Santiago, hold shields with the coats of arms of the Zúñiga, Acevedo, Ulloa, Sotomayor, and Fonseca families. The gallery of the top floor has Renaissance arches. The balconies and windows are adorned with Plateresque decoration.
The Monterrey Palace has notably influenced multiple Spanish buildings of the 19th and 20th centuries, such as the Palace of the Deputation of Palencia, a work by Jerónimo Arroyo from 1916, the Archaeological Museum of Seville by Aníbal González from 1919, or the Cavalry Academy of Valladolid by Adolfo Pierrad from 1924.
As one of the main properties of the House of Alba, this building houses valuable works of art, as well as a varied collection of furniture, tapestries, porcelains...
Two landscape paintings were identified within it as originals by the Valencian painter José de Ribera; they are dated 1639 and are the only examples of independent landscape in his entire production.
The project envisioned a quadrangular building with three floors and a central courtyard, with towers at each corner and in the center of each wing. Ultimately, only one of the wings, the south one, was built. At the corners, lions and chimerical animals, designed by Fray Martín de Santiago, hold shields with the coats of arms of the Zúñiga, Acevedo, Ulloa, Sotomayor, and Fonseca families. The gallery of the top floor has Renaissance arches. The balconies and windows are adorned with Plateresque decoration.
The Monterrey Palace has notably influenced multiple Spanish buildings of the 19th and 20th centuries, such as the Palace of the Deputation of Palencia, a work by Jerónimo Arroyo from 1916, the Archaeological Museum of Seville by Aníbal González from 1919, or the Cavalry Academy of Valladolid by Adolfo Pierrad from 1924.
As one of the main properties of the House of Alba, this building houses valuable works of art, as well as a varied collection of furniture, tapestries, porcelains...
Two landscape paintings were identified within it as originals by the Valencian painter José de Ribera; they are dated 1639 and are the only examples of independent landscape in his entire production.