About the History of Las Dueñas

Built between the 15th and 16th centuries, the Las Dueñas Palace takes its name from the disappeared monastery of Santa María de las Dueñas, located on the adjoining plot and demolished in 1868. Its origin was the Casa-Palacio de los Pineda, lords of Casa Bermeja, who constituted one of the lineages of the patriciate of Seville. Its members held important offices as the chief notary of the city council and participated in warlike episodes of the Granada War.

During this battle, and with the objective of freeing Juan de Pineda in 1483, the family estate was mortgaged, and the residence was sold in 1496 to Catalina de Ribera, widow of the advanced Don Pedro Enríquez. Later, his son Fernando expanded the Gothic-Mudéjar house he had inherited from his mother and transformed it into a Renaissance palace. When he died in 1522, his widow Inés Portocarrero became the guardian of his children. The second of them, Don Fernando Enríquez de Ribera y Portocarrero, inherited the palace and later married Juana Cortés, daughter of the conqueror of Mexico.

During Don Fernando's lifetime, important restoration and expansion works were undertaken at the Palacio de las Dueñas. Years later, the palace was inherited by Don Fernando Enríquez de Ribera, 2nd Marquis of Villanueva del Rio and father of Antonia Enríquez de Ribera, married in 1612 to Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, future 6th Duke of Alba. Since this date, Las Dueñas belongs to Casa de Alba.

It was in the 19th century that the palace became a neighborhood house, its rooms partitioned with partitions and coffered ceilings covered with ceilings. Oddly enough, one of the tenants and administrator of the Palace was Antonio Machado Álvarez, whose circumstance enabled the birth of one of the greatest Spanish poets, Antonio Machado Ruiz, in 1875.

During the 20th century, Las Dueñas has been a meeting place for members of European dynasties and diverse personalities from the world of culture, politics and international art. Famous people have visited or resided in the palace, such as Empress Eugenia de Montijo, the English politician and Hispanist Lord Holland, the young Edward VIII and his brother Jorge VI, Alfonso XIII, Jacqueline Kennedy, Wallis Simpson, Grace Kelly and her husband Rainiero de Monaco, among others.

Starting in March 2016, as a personal initiative of D. Carlos Fitz-James Stuart, 19th Duke of Alba, the Las Dueñas Palace opened its doors to the public so that visitors can discover its magnificent interiors, courtyards and gardens, its works of art and its daily reality.

The objective of this initiative is to make known to the world the great work of artistic patronage and conservation that Casa de Alba has been carrying out for centuries.

Las Dueñas shares its corners to take the visitor for a few moments to another world of fantastic reality, full of history and art for the delight of lovers of culture and beauty.