CASTILLO DE LA GLORIETA

Don Francisco de Argandona and his wife belonged to the circle of rich mining industrialists who had made their fortune at the height of the silver age. The Argandona family made many trips to Europe and, around 1900, they received from the Pope the title of Princess of the Glorieta for their wife Dona Clotilde. The couple asked the architect Camponovo to draw the plan of their residence called the Glorieta.

This palace offers a true sampling of the eclectic European architecture of the end of the century. It shows that its owners succumbed to the charms of the most diverse styles. This is why the Glorieta forms a heterogeneous ensemble, each part of which displays a different style. From left to right, you can see a Romanesque octagonal tower, a two-storey Byzantine body and an Arabic portal with round arches. A 15th century Florentine palace stands at the corner of the main building, which is flanked by a chapel crowned by a Gothic-style bell tower. After a succession of five Dutch façades, the complex ends with a long gallery inspired by the French Renaissance. Camponovo's task demanded a real tour de force as he was asked to bring together the history of architecture in a single palace. Paradoxically, the building presents a certain unity (in its diversity) which makes the whole rather pleasant. The decoration, which borrows its elements from French taste, is worthy of the European palaces of the end of the 19th century.