Albéniz Palace
Spanish:Palacete Albéniz Catalan:Palauet Albéniz
Rear facade of the palace
Interactive map of the Albéniz Palace area
General information
Architectural style	Historicism,neo-Herrerian
Location	Barcelona, Spain
Coordinates	41°22′02″N02°09′20″E / 41.36722°N 2.15556°E /41.36722; 2.15556
Construction started	1928
Completed	1928
Client	Spanish royal family
Owner	City Council of Barcelona
Management	Patrimonio Nacional
Design and construction
Architect	Juan Moya Idígoras

ThePalace of Albéniz (Spanish:Palacete Albéniz,Catalan:Palauet Albéniz), formerly known as theRoyal Pavilion of Montjuic, is a palace located on theMontjuïc mountain, inBarcelona, Spain, that currently serves as the official residence of theSpanish royal family in the region.

Since its construction it has been adapted to its different functions: first, as a place of representation ofthe Crown during the1929 Barcelona International Exposition and, after it, as accommodation for illustrious personalities. It has currently become the official residence of the Spanish royal family during their official stays inCatalonia.

The palace was built for the1929 Barcelona International Exposition. Contrary to popular belief, the building did not serve as a royal residence, but housed the representation of theRoyal Household. The royal family used it as a resting place, forlight meals and tea, as well as to receive distinguished guests who visited the exposition.^[1][2] During the event, the sovereigns resided in the recently builtRoyal Palace of Pedralbes.^[3]

The design of the pavilion was carried out by the architect of the Royal House, Juan Moya Idígoras (1867–1953).^[4] For this reason, although the buildings in the exhibition were not characterized by their stylistic homogeneity, the building stood out because it did not follow the guidelines of the Mediterranean and Catalan architecture of most of the palaces and pavilions in the Exposition, but was closer toBourbon tastes and the aesthetics of Royal Sites.

The official inauguration, in the presence of KingAlfonso XIII, QueenVictoria Eugenie of Battenberg, theinfantas and other authorities, took place on 5 October 1929.^[4]

In 1930, once the exposition was over, it was proposed to locate theBarcelona Music Museum in the palace. The project did not prosper but the Board of Museums proposed the construction and placement of a bust in honor of the musician, composer and pianistIsaac Albéniz. TheCity Council gave its approval and from that moment the Royal Pavilion of Montjuic has been known as thePalacete or Palauet Albéniz. This bust was sculpted by the Enric Casanovas and Mateu Fernández Soto.

After remaining closed and unoccupied during theSecond Republic and theCivil War, in 1952, the palace served as accommodation for cardinalAngelo Dell'Acqua,Pontifical Legate, who came to Barcelona for the XXXVEucharistic congress. In 1957, MayorJosep Maria de Porcioles i Colomer decided to convert the building into accommodation for distinguished visitors, including PrinceConstantine of Greece,Richard Nixon,William Tubman,Habib Bourguiba, CardinalEugène Tisserant andChristian Pineau.^[2]

From 1965 to 1970, the Barcelona City Council decided to remodel and expand the palace, and awarded the project to the local architects Joaquim Ros de Ramis, Antoni Lozoya and Ignasi Serra Goday. With the addition of the two new wings, the old quadrangular-shaped pavilion became the current shape of a capital "T".^[2]

Mayor Porcioles decided that the interior be decorated with paintings by the most representative artists of contemporary Catalan art, such asRamon Martí Alsina,Ramon Casas,Joaquin Mir Trinxet orSantiago Rusiñol, among others, as well as with furniture from the personal collection of Luis Plandiura, a famous Barcelona collector. The renovation also included the creation of a dome with paintings bySalvador Dalí that evoke culture and the city and another with a stained glass window by Carlos Muñoz de Pablos.^[5]

The demolition of the nearby Palace of the Missions and Palace of Modern Art also allowed for the extension of the gardens,^[6] which received the name ofJoan Maragall gardens in honor of the Spanish poet. The new building was inaugurated byFrancisco Franco on 23 June 1970.^[2]

The first guests of the renovated palace were the princesJuan Carlos de Borbón andSofía de Grecia in February 1971, who, after their accession to the throne in 1975, preferred to use the Albéniz Palace as their official residence in the city instead of theRoyal Palace of Pedralbes.^[7] Their son,King Felipe VI, and his wife,Queen Letizia, also prefer Albéniz to Pedralbes.^[7]

It was built with brick and stone framing the windows, doors and corners and its roofs are made ofslate. Its exterior appearance has strong influences fromHerrerian architecture, such as thePalacio de Santa Cruz or thePalacio de los Concejos. On the other hand, the original quadrangular plan of the pavilion is inspired by thePalace of Zarzuela or theCasita del Infante inEl Escorial, both of them inspired by the Bolognese villa model ofSerlio.^[8] Despite the changes and extensions that it has undergone due to its different uses, it can be said that the building retains its original characteristics.

For the 1929 exposition, the interior of the building was decorated with armors from theRoyal Armoury and tapestries and confectioners from theRoyal Tapestry Factory and the royal collections, some of them woven according toGoya's cartoons. Also, several rooms of the pavilion, both in decoration and furniture, were reproductions of others existing in the Royal Sites.^[4][2] During the 1960s, several paintings by contemporary local artists were added to its interiors, such asMartí Alsina,Casas,Josep de Togores orVayreda, as well as furniture from the personal collection of Luis Plandiura.^[2]

The palace is accessed through a largewrought iron gate crowned by aroyal coat of arms and flanked by two lions that come from the Royal Palace of Pedralbes. The rooms can be divided into two parts according to the period in which they were built.

It corresponds to the quadrangular pavilion built during the Universal Exposition by the architect of the Royal House, Juan Moya Idígoras.^[2]

• Entrance hall: its most remarkable element is thedome painted byDalí in the 1960s, which represents an allegory of thesardana, with references to thefirst man to walk on the Moon, theMontserrat mountain or theSagrada Família. Historical figures linked to Barcelona are represented on thependentives:Ramon Llull,Joan Maragall,Christopher Columbus andMiguel de Cervantes.
• Hall of Goya or Tapestries: it is inspired by several rooms of theRoyal Palace of El Pardo and receives its name from the tapestries woven according to theGoya cartoons destined, precisely, for the aforementioned palace.
• Yellow Hall or Ramón Casas Hall: this room, originally used as a dining room, is a copy of the Yellow Hall in theCasita del Príncipe inEl Pardo. Particularly noteworthy is the elaborate ceiling, the Empire-style chairs and the paintings and drawings byRamon Casas, among others.
• Hall of Mirrors: the small cabinet and itsCarlos IV-style furniture reproduce the famous King's Dressing Room in theRoyal Palace of Aranjuez.
• Official Office: all the furniture in this room (chairs and armchairs, desk and bookcases) stand out for their elaborate marquetry. They are from the Alfonsine period and come from the Plandiura Collection. The palace visitors' book is kept in this room.
• Corridor: previously it was the rear exit of the pavilion; currently it serves as a link between the old and the new part.
• Golden Room: it is especially sumptuous due to the combination of agate-colored marble and golden cornices, scrolls and garlands. Its most remarkable furnishings are the chandeliers supported by caryatids and the 17th-century cabinet with ivory inlays.
• Hall of the Busts: it receives its name from the four busts located in the corners that represent twoRoman emperors and the goddessesDiana andSelene. The late-baroque ceiling with golden stuccoes is inspired by those made in theRoyal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso during the reign ofPhilip V.
• Circus: it is located in the center of the mansion, it is covered with Italian marble and decorated with tapestries from the 18th century owned by theCity Council. Above all, the dome of polychrome crystals stands out, designed in the 1960s by Juan de Contreras y López de Ayala, 9th Marquis of Lozoya and executed by Carlos Muñoz de Pablos, its design is based on one from the time ofFerdinand VII, although in this case the Greek dance was replaced by asardana.

• 
  Goya Hall
• 
  Yellow Hall
• 
  Hall of Mirrors
• 
  Golden Room
• 
  Hall of Busts
• 
  Ceiling of the Hall of Busts

They are the two perpendicular wings built from 1965 to 1970 when the pavilion was enlarged, one of them contains the Gala Dining Room and the other one the "residential section".^[2]

• Gala Dining Room: it is the largest room in the palace despite its relatively low ceiling. It is decorated with Carlos IV style furniture.
• Rear Lobby: entirely covered in marble, it allows access to the garden and also serves as the nerve center of the residential or private section of the palace.
• Private Sitting Room: Located to the right of the lobby, it was formerly wood colored and is currently painted white. In the background, between the two doors that lead to the following rooms, hangs a portrait ofCharles III.
• Lacquer Room: the small room gets its name from an oriental-style screen exhibited in the 1929 exposition; an elaborateBoulle-style chest of drawers is also remarkable.
• Private Dining Room: it is decorated with a neoclassical table from the old pavilion, as well asLouis XIV style consoles and paintings byJoaquim Vayreda andRicard Canals.
• Library: its most outstanding piece of furniture is an oriental-style secretaire exhibited at the1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition.
• Bedrooms: The residential section is completed by the private bedrooms located to the left of the lobby. These rooms are: the porcelain room, the hall, the main bedroom, the dressing room and theaide-de-camp bedroom.

• 
  Gala Dining Room
• 
  Private Sitting Room

This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved. Find sources: "Palace of Albéniz" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(July 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The gardens of the palace are named after Spanish poetJoan Maragall, like other gardens in theMontjuïc area dedicated to poets, such as the gardens ofJacint Verdaguer,Miquel Costa i Llobera andJoan Brossa. The original gardens were designed byJean-Claude Nicolas Forestier with the assistance of Spanishlandscape architect Nicolás María Rubió Tudurí. They created a complex with a marked Mediterranean character, with a classicist taste, combining the gardens with the construction ofpergolas and terraces.

Due to the desire to transform the palace into a trueroyal residence, since thePalau Reial de Pedralbes was not to the future KingJuan Carlos I pleasure, in the 1970s the gardens were enlarged. The expansion project was carried out by Joaquim Maria Casamor, chief architect of the Department of Parks and Gardens of Barcelona, who designed a French-style project, with abundant sculptural decoration. The gardens are organized into three zones: one in front of the main facade of the palace, with two ponds at each end and a central area of flowerbeds, with a small temple with the sculptureSusanna in the Bath, byThéophile Barrau; another on the sides of the palace, which corresponds to the old gardens of 1929, where two fountains with tritons and two sculptures entitledReclining Woman, by Enric Monjo, stand out; and the northern area, which overlooks thePalau Nacional (headquarters of theNational Art Museum of Catalonia), where a peristyle courtyard with an Ionic colonnade stands out, with the sculptureSerena, by Pilar Francesch, and where the chapel of Santa Madrona is located.

• Royal residences in Spain
• Palaces in Barcelona
• Buildings and structures completed in 1928

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• CS1 Catalan-language sources (ca)
• CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from September 2022
• Articles containing Spanish-language text
• Articles containing Catalan-language text
• Pages using infobox mapframe without shape links in Wikidata
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from July 2022
• All articles needing additional references
• Pages using the Kartographer extension