PhD Program in Historical studies
Posadas (Cordoba)
In Posadas, in the province of Cordoba, without a doubt one must visit the palace of the Marquis of Villaseca. Built between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it is a building known for its artesonado, a wood carving technique, in use especially in the south of the Iberian peninsula (which can be admired especially on the first floor) and on account of its Baroque façade in natural stone. It was restructured in the 1990s when it was gutted to house the youth centre and the Department of Urban Architecture of the Provincial Council of Cordoba. The building was constructed for the noble family of Fernández de Córdoba y Figueroa. It originally occupied the southern part of the town square, roughly double of its current dimensions. The building is rectangular, with its principal façade on one of its longest sides. It has two floors and on the ground floor there are numerous windows while on the first there are balconies which are aligned with them. The palace presents a somber, Classical image. The Baroque gate is adorned with three coats of arms which have been declared to be of cultural interest, the main one belonging to the Fernández de Córdoba y Figueroa family. The gate itself is surmounted by a rectangular architrave which protects the tympanum which was broken by the aforementioned coat of arms. Under, there is a cornice which is soberly decorated with friezes and columns. The entrance or portico is flanked by two Tuscan columns while the ample sitting rooms are covered with richly decorated wood panels. The ground floor has been completely renovated while the first, of great artistic value, has yet to be restructured and reappraised. The wooden part is octagonal in form with mudéjar style elements (a style which ceased to be used in the middle of the sixteenth-century which makes it easier to establish a date for the construction of the building). This building is probably the most interesting example of civil architecture in Posadas.