The 19th DUKE OF ALBA
Despite the hot weather, the walls of the Palace of Las Dueñas and the huge expanses of green areas help make the building cool. Just before entering the palace, the first feeling you have is that you are not visiting a “dead” monument, but a living place – a dwelling (the Duke lives in Madrid, but he uses the second floor of this palace), a personal place filled with wonderful corners, gurgling fountains and gardens.
The first impression as soon as you enter, where the stables are on the right, is that of a solid, history-laden palace. Large arches, ample spaces and, on view, a saddle that belonged to the French Empress – Eugenia de Montijo, wife of Napoleon III –, a Mexican poncho, and objects of popular art from that country, which recall the bonds between America and Spain – and, above all, Seville. Next is the courtyard “where the lemon tree matures”, as poet Antonio Machado, who spent his childhood years here, wrote. Just a few steps on, and all of a sudden, the art, the history, the Roman, Visigothic, Muslim pasts, and Spain’s identity as a country, and its
Carlos Fitz-James Stuart y Martínez de Irujo has 40 noble titles, 12 of which make him a Spanish Grandee. He is the 19th duke of Alba, the eldest of six siblings and son of the recently deceased Duchess of Alba, owner of one of the most important art collections in the world. He has just opened his mother’s favourite residence in Seville, the Palace of Las Dueñas, to the public. This city was one of Cayetana de Alba’s passions, together with flamenco, bullfighting and painting.
culture, can be felt among the geraniums, rosebushes, bougainvillea, palms and box hedges, as well as in the exquisite, completely unostentatious ceramics. The albero colour – yellow – of the sand in these courtyards is also present on the walls. In the Mudejar courtyard – in the centre of the Duke of Alba’s Palace – I feel that I am at the centre of the House of Alba: at the centre of titles, marquisates, duchies, Spanish Grandees and seigniories unmatched in the world. The Duchess appeared in the Guinness Book of World Records for the sheer number of titles she had.
Her estate is priceless, and goes beyond just material value. How much is King Ferdinand the Catholic’s original will worth? – a document that marked the birth of Spain as several kingdoms and a single
Crown. How much are her paintings by Murillo and Ribera, her drawings by Leonardo and Goya worth?
All this is managed by the Foundation of the House of Alba that includes the Liria Palace in Madrid, the Monterrey Palace in Salamanca, and the Dueñas
Palace, today open to the public not just for the sake of more efficient management, but also to fulfil the express wish of the Duke of Alba: to open one of the most iconic interiors in Seville to its citizens and to the entire world.