Palace of the Counts of Castellar

The Palace of the Counts of Castellar, current headquarters of the Town Council of El Viso del Alcor, was built between the 15th and 16th centuries but reduced to rubble around 1977.

It was built as a residence for the Counts of Castellar, although it was used for many different things in the 20th century. It housed various groups during the Second Republic, it was a prison for prisoners during the Civil War, and then it became a school of Trinitarian nuns first, and later on of Theatine nuns.

Years later this building was rebuilt following the original designs, using old photographs and documents. The new building preserved the essential features of the old building and recovered the urban layout of the surroundings, but adapted it to its current use as Council offices.

The structure of the Palace of the Counts of Castellar preserves the two large courtyards and access doors. However, the layout is different and had already been changed when it was refurbished as a Theatine school and was not very interesting. The number of open spaces was also increased as the building would have been difficult to use otherwise.