The Virreina Palace ( ca, Palau de la Virreina; es, Palacio de la Virreina) is a building in the city of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. Situated on the famous La Rambla avenue, today it houses the headquarters of the city council's Culture Institute ('' Institut de Cultura de l'Ajuntament de Barcelona'') and hosts various temporary art exhibitions and cultural events. The palace was built, between 1772 and 1778, for Manuel d'Amat i de Junyent, who was Viceroy of Peru between 1761 and 1776. It is named for his wife, ''virreina'' meaning

vicereine A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...

in the Catalan language. The architect was Carles Grau, and the palace was built in a style between

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

and

rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

. Grau, also a sculptor, created the window hoods and the vases which decorate the building's skyline. On the exterior of the palace is a statue of

Our Lady of the Rosary Our Lady of the Rosary, also known as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, is a Marian title. The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, formerly known as Feast of Our Lady of Victory and Feast of the Holy Rosary is celebrated on 7 October in the General Rom ...

, created by Luisa Granero in 1967.

Gallery

File:Palau_de_la_Virreina_-_Escales.JPG, Staircase File:Palau de la Virreina, pati.jpg, Interior of the palace File:90 Mare de Déu del Roser, vora la Virreina.jpg, Statue of Our Lady of the Rosary

References

External links

*�
Official Palau de la Virreina (Virreina Palace) website
- Museums in Barcelona Art museums and galleries in Catalonia Ciutat Vella La Rambla, Barcelona Houses completed in 1778 Palaces in Barcelona {{Catalonia-museum-stub