Montemuzo Palace

The Montemuzo Palace is a municipally owned building, constructed during the Aragonese Renaissance, which has been designated to house the Municipal Archive and Document Management Unit, comprising the Municipal Archive, Library, and Newspaper Library.

At the beginning of the 20th century, its previous owner, Don Luis Latorre y Ximénez de Embún, Marquis of Montemuzo, expanded it, building a modernist-style apartment building on adjacent plots, designed by the Catalan architect Luis Salas Ricomá in 1906.

The Renaissance palace was built well into the 16th century. On the exposed brick façade, the grand entrance stands out, still retaining part of its stone jambs, which, in the palace's heyday, allowed access for carriages and pedestrians. Inside, the courtyard is particularly noteworthy, with its slender, ringed Ionic columns, and the first-floor gallery with its semicircular arches and Ionic columns. The upper floor still retains the double-arched bay window, now concealed by a glazed enclosure. The Modernist section of the complex faces Espoz y Mina Street. Its composition adheres to strict symmetry, combining the use of two materials: sandstone for the first section, with ashlar blocks, columns, and decorative elements, while the rest uses exposed brick and stone lintels. The decorative motifs correspond to plant elements: thistles, interlacing patterns, and water lilies, typical of the Art Nouveau aesthetic. The new facilities were inaugurated on April 23, 1994, the feast day of Saint George. On July 11, 2002, the Government of Aragon declared it a Site of Cultural Interest by decree, in the category of Monument.