The Lerma Ducal Palace is the palace of the dukes of Lerma in Lerma (

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of t ...

) in Spain, occupying the whole of one side of the city's Plaza. Originally it had immense gardens below it, on the banks of the river, with fountains, stately homes and seven

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

s, of which one (Cristo) remains. All documents relating to its construction have been conserved. A 17th-century work, building started in 1601 under commission from

Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, Duke of Lerma Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, 1st Duke of Lerma, 5th Marquess of Denia, 1st Count of Ampudia (1552/1553 – 17 May 1625), was a favourite of Philip III of Spain, the first of the ''validos'' ('most worthy') through whom the later H ...

. Its architect was

Francisco de Mora Francisco de Mora (c.1553–1610) was a Spanish Renaissance architect. Mora was born in Cuenca, Spain, Cuenca, and was an uncle of both the architect Juan Gómez de Mora and the humanist Baltasar Porreño. He is considered one of the best r ...

and is it is considered de Mora's masterwork and one of the finest buildings of that era. The site was used as Francoist concentration camp. It is currently used as a parador.

Facade

The doorway is crowned by a frontispiece held up by columns. The large walnut door is decorated with 520

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

nails. Above the door are two of the

duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

's coat-of-arms, decorated with

laurel Laurel may refer to: Plants * Lauraceae, the laurel family * Laurel (plant), including a list of trees and plants known as laurel People * Laurel (given name), people with the given name * Laurel (surname), people with the surname * Laurel (mus ...

. The railings of the windows and balconies are painted blue and gold.

Patio

The interior of the patio round

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

es on each side. The columns are made of single pieces of granite (the quarries were owned by the duke). On the upper level the columns do not support arches, but rather a running frieze with iron balconies between them, and windows which were originally made from walnut wood. The palace has four towers at the corners, whose spires were also recovered after the restoration works. No palace could have more than two towers except those belonging to kings, but the Duke of Lerma was given this privilege due to his great powers in Court.

References

Paradores Renaissance architecture in Castile and León Houses completed in 1617 Palaces in Castile and León Herrerian architecture 1617 establishments in Spain Francoist concentration camps {{Spain-hotel-stub