The Casa Cisneros is a palace located on the

Plaza de la Villa The plaza de la Villa is an urban square in central Madrid, Spain. The square, bordering the Calle Mayor, houses some of the oldest buildings still around in the city. History and description It lies in the Palacio neighborhood, part of the Cen ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Built in

Plateresque Plateresque, meaning "in the manner of a silversmith" (''plata'' being silver in Spanish), was an artistic movement, especially architectural, developed in Spain and its territories, which appeared between the late Gothic and early Renaissance in ...

style in 1537, at the request of Benito Jiménez de Cisneros, a 16th-century architect and nephew of

Cardinal Cisneros Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

(statesman and whose founder of founded the

Complutense University The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loca ...

), in honor it is named.

Features

The façade on the Plaza de la Villa was restored in about 1909, when the city of

acquired ownership of the property and integrated it into the premises Casa de la Villa. The remodeling was done in the period 1910-1914, in line with the original plans, by the architect Antonio Bellido y Gonzánlez, who also designed the rear passageway that connects the Casa de Cisneros with the Casa de la Villa de Madrid (the old town hall). The facade on calle Sacramento, originally the main entrance, is of the most significant historical and artistic value although somewhat modified during the 1909 renovations. According to tradition, this palace served as a prison for the controversial royal secretary to King

Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...

, Antonio Perez. It is also the birthplace of

Álvaro de Figueroa, 1st Count of Romanones Álvaro de Figueroa y Torres-Sotomayor, 1st Count of Romanones (9 August 1863 – 11 October 1950) was a Spanish politician and businessman. He served as Prime Minister three times between 1912 and 1918, president of the Senate, president of the ...

. and General

Ramón María Narváez, 1st Duke of Valencia Ramón or Ramon may refer to: People Given name *Ramon (footballer, born 1998), Brazilian footballer *Ramón (footballer, born 1990), Brazilian footballer *Ramón (singer), Spanish singer who represented Spain in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest * ...

was a famous resident who here in 1868.

Features

See also