# Historical palaces all over the world - all the pix you like



## Pincio (May 30, 2007)

*Palazzo Comunale (San Gimignano, Italy)*

San Gimignano is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. It is mainly famous for its medieval architecture, especially its towers, which may be seen from several kilometers outside the town. The town also is known for the white wine, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, grown in the area.










The *Communal Palace*, once seat of the podestà, is currently home of the Town Gallery, with works by Pinturicchio, Benozzo Gozzoli, Filippino Lippi, Domenico di Michelino, Pier Francesco Fiorentino, and others.









*The Courtyard*

From Dante's Hall in the palace, access may be made to a Majesty fresco by Lippo Memmi, as well as the Torre Grossa which stands fifty-four meters high.









*The Courtyard*

The Communal Palace is one more of San Gimignano's exceptional contributions. Residence of the Town Gallery, it shelters works of art by Lippi, Francesco, Fiorentino and others. From Dante's Hall it's a stroll to the fresco by Lippo.









*Maestà (Lippo Memmi)*

In the base of the Torre del Podestà there is a spacious entry with sandstone benches and, at the far end, a year 1513 Sodoma frieze of the Virgin and Child. There is as large entrance into the small Teatro dei Leggieri rebuilt from the remnants of another theatre, which was erected in 1534 AD, and redone in 1794 AD.









*The frescoes*

---


----------



## buho (Sep 15, 2008)

San Giminiano is great, and the communal palaces of Italy something unique!


----------



## Pincio (May 30, 2007)

DidacXavier said:


> Palacio del Marqués de Dos Aguas - Valencia, Spain


Is there, inside, a ceramic museums?


----------



## Pincio (May 30, 2007)

*Palazzo Pretorio (Certaldo, Italy)*

Certaldo is a town and comune of Tuscany, Italy, in the province of Florence, located in the middle of Valdelsa. Heading southwest, it is 50 minutes by rail and 35 minutes by car from the city of Florence. Heading north, it is 25 minutes by rail from Siena. It was the home of the family of Giovanni Boccaccio, who died and was buried here in 1375.










The Praetorian Palace rises in the very heart of the historical centre of Certaldo, that is the oldest part of the town, where it is still possible to see the remains of the ancient ring of walls that once surrounded the Medieval village, characterized by red stone-made buildings. The Praetorian Palace was built during the twelfth century as the Alberti Counts' residence and later it was modified during the fifteenth century.









*The Courtyard*

The facade shows several heraldic shield, some marble-and-stone-made ensigns and two orders of windows surmounted by merlons. By going up some stairs it is to possible to enter the Palace where it is possible to admire a fresco dating back to 1460 portraying the "Incredulity of the Saints Thomas and Girolamo". On the left side opens the Camera delle Sentenze (Room of the Sentences) whose walls shows some traces of fifteenth-century frescoes like "Our Lady with the Child" painted by Pier Francesco Fiorentino (1444-1497).









*The frescoes*

On the right side opens the Sala delle Udienze (Room of the Hearings) where it is possible to admire a wall painting portraying the "Pity" dating back to 1484. Going on the right it is possible to enter a Renaissance garden, rich of stone-and-ceramic-made decorations portraying some ensigns and traces of frescoes like an "Annunciation". 









*The facade*

On the first floor it is possible to visit other two rooms, the Sala Grande (Big Room) whose walls are covered by noble ensigns and valuable frescoes, like "Our Lady with the Child" painted by Pier Francesco Fiorentino (1444-1497) and the Sala del Consiglio (Room of the Council) whose inside it is placed a fine stone-made chimney dating back to XV-th century. 









*The Courtyard*

Remarkable is also the Sala dei Forestieri (Foreigners' Room) whose inside it is possible to admire a "Pity" dating back to XVI-th century and "Our Lady with the Child on the Throne" painted in 1495 by Pier Francesco Fiorentino (1444-1497). 









*The Courtyard*

---


----------



## buho (Sep 15, 2008)

Pincio said:


> Is there, inside, a ceramic museums?


Yes, it is. National Ceramic and Sumptuary Arts Museum of Spain


----------



## stewie1980 (Nov 7, 2007)

Moscow Kremlin























































Larger and more images see http://www.flickr.com/photos/stewie1980-part3/sets/72157615863442241/


----------



## Pincio (May 30, 2007)

*Palazzo Rosso (Genoa, Italy)*

UNESCO World Heritage Centre

http://www.museopalazzorosso.it/home.asp?LinguaH=1

The palazzo was built between 1671 and 1677. It was planned by the architect Pietro Antonio Corradi, while the construction site and works were directed by Matteo Lagomaggiore. The building has a U-shaped plan deriving from the types used by Bartolomeo Bianco: the two wings are joined by loggias that define the square interior courtyard.










Both floors have the typical layout designed with a loggia and chamber in an axial position and a row of rooms on each side. Ridolfo Maria, the eldest son, occupied the second floor, and Gio.Francesco occupied the first. When Ridolfo died without heirs in 1683, his brother became sole owner and moved up to the second floor. He bought the portraits of his parents from his niece Paola, the wife of Carlo Spinola, and began commissioning fresco works for the second-floor rooms, making allowances for its extension beyond the east wing - terminated after his death - to all of the other mezzanine rooms.










Between 1679 and 1694, the artists taking part in this early decorative phase were Domenico Piola (1627-1703) and Gregorio De Ferrari (1647-1726), and, subsequently, Paolo Gerolamo Piola (1666-1724), aided by perspective artists and stucco experts. At the end of this first phase, the works completed included the Chamber, with perspective decorations on the walls by the Bolognese artists Gio.Enrico and Antonio Haffner, and the fresco on the vault, a masterpiece by Gregorio De Ferrari, which were unfortunately destroyed during air raids in the second world war; four rooms in the east wing, each with subjects inspired by a season of the year; and finally the loggia: during these interventions the arches were filled in and it was transformed into a small picture gallery, where Codazzi painted the false ruins and Paolo Gerolamo Piola the episodes from the myth of Diana and Endymion.










The second decorative phase got underway in the spring of 1691, and within a year it involved the four rooms in the western wing: the >Sala della vita dell'uomo and the Sala delle arti Liberali were frescoed by Gio.Andrea Carlone (1639-1697) with the aid of Antonio Haffner for the perspective scenes which, on the walls of the latter, open onto Paesaggi by Carlo Antonio Tavella (1668-1738); the Alcove Room - which now has part of a later decoration - also by Gio.Andrea Carlone and his brother Nicolò; the last room is entirely the work of Bartolomeo Guidobono (1654-1709), whose Fucina di Vulcano on the vault was damaged and replaced in 1736 by Domenico Parodi's Gioventù in cimento.










The restoration work and completion of the decorations continued through to the mid-nineteenth century and, at the same time, the Brignole-Sale collection continued to expand. A few years after the death of Gio.Francesco, it was further enriched by the inheritance of his father-in-law Giuseppe Maria Durazzo.









*Cleopatra Morente (Guercino)*

---


----------



## vittorio tauber (Jul 30, 2008)

*Palazzo Borromeo, Isolabella, 1/2*


----------



## vittorio tauber (Jul 30, 2008)

*Palazzo Borromeo, Isolabella 2/2*


----------



## erbse (Nov 8, 2006)

Awesome place, Vittorio! I wanted to go there when I visited the area around Lake Maggiore, but the weather sucked


----------



## buho (Sep 15, 2008)

A map of Palazzo Borromeo, please! kay:


----------



## guille_89uy (Jan 14, 2008)

*Palacio legislativo, Montevideo, Uruguay:*

*Palacio legislativo, Montevideo, Uruguay:*


----------



## yosoyelrey (Apr 18, 2008)

^^Beautiful building thanks for the photos


----------



## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

FedSardaukar said:


> this is not palazzo labia paint, this is at british museum
> in palazzo labia you can see this version, similar to the fresco on the other side of the hall



Thanks. There are numerous cartoons of the Palazzo Labia Frescoes. The Art Institute of Chicago also owns a few. I couldn't find a picture that was small enough (I edited out the huge pix that actually showed the frescoes in situ) so the cartoons would have to do!


----------



## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

stewie1980 said:


> Moscow Kremlin


The Kremlin contains many palaces, of course. One of the oldest is the so-called Palace of Facets:


----------



## vittorio tauber (Jul 30, 2008)

erbse said:


> Awesome place, Vittorio! I wanted to go there when I visited the area around Lake Maggiore, but the weather sucked


The trouble with lakes is that bad weather turns everything into an almost-suicide-attempt mood.
Waiting to a next time was a reasonable choice, since you could have been disappointed otherwise. 

@buho: map will follow as soon as possible.


----------



## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

The Great Kremlin Palace:

Flickr:









Wikipedia:









www.kremlin.ru and www.kremlin2000.ru:


----------



## erbse (Nov 8, 2006)

^ Credit your sources, please.


----------



## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

erbse said:


> ^ Credit your sources, please.


Thanks. I edited the post to include sources. Pix from all previous posts were from flickr.


----------



## tonyssa (Aug 14, 2007)

Very nice pics!! :cheers:


----------



## Pincio (May 30, 2007)

*Palazzo dei Priori (Volterra, Italy)*

Volterra is one of the most interesting towns in Tuscany.










The town was a Neolithic settlement and an important Etruscan center with an original civilization; it became a municipium in the Roman Age. The city was a bishop's residence in the 5th century and its episcopal power was affirmed during the 12th century. With the decline of the episcopate, Volterra was the subject of the interest of Florence, which defeated Volterra many times though rebellions sometimes took place. When the Florentine Republic fell in 1530, Volterra came under the control of the Medici family and later followed the history of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.










*The Priori Palace*

The palace was designed by Maestro Riccardo in 1239 as the inscription near the main entrance attests. The three-storey façade adorned with trilobed, double arched windows and the Della Robbia glazed terracotta coats of arms of the Florentine magistrates (15th-16th centuries) also bears the canna volterrana, the medieval standard measurement of the commune, engraved between the banner and torch holders.










The two Marzocco lions, a symbol of Florence were added in 1472 when the palazzo became the seat of the Captain of Justice. The pentagonal shaped tower is not completely original for the top half was rebuilt after the last earthquake in 1846 by the architect Mazzei who also embellished other buildings in the main square.










The entrance decorated with coats of arms leads to the stairway and a fresco of the Crucifixiion with saints by Pier Francesco Fiorentino who also painted the Crucifixion in the mayor’s antechamber. The Virgin with child has been attributed to Raffaellino del Garbo.










The magnificent Council Hall with a cross vaulted ceiling exhibits the fresco of The Annunciation and four saints, Cosmas ,Damian, Giusto and Ottaviano, painted by Jacopo di Cione and Nicolò di Pietro Gerini.While the fresco was being transferred onto canvas, the sinopia now displayed in the antechamber, were discovered.










On the right wall, The Marriage Feast at Cana, a large canvas painted by Donato Mascagni in the 16th century. In the antechamber, the Sala della Giunta, wood panel of Persius Flaccus by Cosimo Daddi, a fresco tranferred to canvas of S.Girolomo, two small canvas paintings by Giandomenico Ferretti (18th century) depicting The Adoration of the Magi, Birth of the Virgin by Ignazio Hugford and a canvas of Giobe by Donato Mascagni.










---


----------



## Arpels (Aug 9, 2004)

*Palace Malheiros Reymão - Viana do Castelo - Portugal*

great palaces :yes: 

Built between 1750 and 1765 is a baroque palace with private chapel in the old city center of Viana, pics of the interior are not allowed by the owner :|


the palace:










the private chapel in the corner:


----------



## buho (Sep 15, 2008)

*Alcázares Reales de Sevilla (Sevilla, Spain)* Unesco World Heritage Centre

Palatine complex with parts of several ages, including moorish, mudejar and manierism art. The ancient muslim palace was reformed by Pedro I de Castilla at the XIV century, by architects and workers that came from the Alhambra (Pedro I had really good relations with nasri kings). The gardens are important too, and were reformed at 16th century.


----------



## Pincio (May 30, 2007)

^^
Amazing palace, a unique style in Europe.


----------



## Pincio (May 30, 2007)

*Il Gotico (Piacenza, Italy)*

Piacenza is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Piacenza.
Modern forms of the name descend from Latin Placentia.










Piacenza is one of the most renowned cities in Italy for the arts. It boasts a great number of historical palaces, often characterized by splendid gardens. Palazzo Comunale, also known as il Gotico, was built in 1281 as the seat of the government of the town. It is one of the best preserved examples of the kind of Medieval civic building in northern Italy known as the Broletto, and is typical of nearby Lombardy.










Of the original design, only the northern side was completed, with its typical Guelph merlons, the arcaded frame, the central bell tower with two lesser ones at the sides. The façade, with five arcades, is in pink marble in the lower part and in brickwork (decorated with geometrical figures) in the upper part. A rose window overlooks the short side, which has three arcades.










The main hall has frescoes, and is used for meetings, lectures and conferences. Other important palaces in Piacenza are: Palazzo Farnese, begun in 1568 by Ottavio Farnese and his wife, Margaret of Austria; Palazzo Landi, built in the Middle Ages but renovated in the late 15th century; Palazzo Costa; Palazzo Somaglia; Palazzo Scotti, housing the Museum of Natural History; Palazzo dei Mercanti (17th century), the current Town Hall.










More info about Piacenza *here*.

---


----------



## buho (Sep 15, 2008)

*Navarra royal Palace (Estella, Navarra, Spain)*

This palace in Estella, a village of Navarra, was the royal palace of the kingdom of Navarre. It's another case of extraordinary preservation of a romanic palace, because it was built during the 12th century. The main element is the facade, with sculptured scenes in the capitals, inspired on popular sayings, tourneys, fables and the Roldan legend (nephiew of Carlomagno, Charles the Great) who faces the giant Ferragut.


----------



## qwert_guy (Oct 3, 2007)

nice architecture


----------



## Pincio (May 30, 2007)

*Palazzo Fortuny (Venice, Italy)*










At the end of the fifteenth century, this was one of the largest buildings in Venice, built by the noble family Pesaro. The main façade is on the Campo San Beneto, but it cannot have its full effect, because the Campo is too small. The left wing is extended to three window axis, a fact which shows the changing room valuation at the end of the fifteenth century.










A rectangular gate with coat of arms can leads into the androne. Large loggias with seven arches of fifth order open the vast porteghi towards the Campo. Seven-arch loggias can be found on the water façade. Additionally, the porteghi get light through three windows to the courtyard.



















The richly decorated capitals and the balconies' sculptured lion heads on the façade are remarkable. Unfortunately the single windows at the left and right of the loggia in the first piano nobile are not visible because of wooden plankings. The museum (september 1999: closed because of restoration) can be accessed through the lateral court at the Calle dei Orfei.










The stairway in the courtyard is not original. Initially, the androne was opened towards the courtyard by large round archs in limestone, which are today bricked up. After having been seat of the philharmonic society L'Apollonea (the reason for the name 'degli Orfei'), the palazzo was acquired by the spanish artist Mariano Fortuny, who established his atelier in the building.

















After his death, his wife Henriette gave it to the city, which installed the Fortuny museum. Although it is rather well preserved, the palazzo needs restoration. Especially the conservation of the single windows mentioned above is necessary.










---


----------



## buho (Sep 15, 2008)

*Palacio de Viso del Marqués (Ciudad Real, Spain)*

16th century palace in a very small town of Ciudad Real, it's one of the best renacentist buildings of Spain, specially due to its wall paintings (8.000 m2) with history and mithology scenes. Was made and decorated by artists from Genova like Juan Bautista Castello (il Bergamasco), Perolli family, Cesare Arbasia... The patron was Don Álvaro de Bazán, one of the most important sailors of spanish history, victorious in Lepanto battle.


----------



## Kintoy (Apr 20, 2009)

*Old Spanish town of Vigan, Philippines*










It is a World Heritage Site in that it is one of numerous Hispanic towns in the Philippines, and is well-known for its cobblestone streets, and a unique architecture that fuses Philippine building design, and construction with colonial European architecture.


----------



## Pincio (May 30, 2007)

*Palazzo Barberini (Rome, Italy)*

Palazzo Barberini is a palace in Rome, central Italy, on the piazza of the same name in Rione Trevi.










The sloping site had formerly been occupied by a garden-vineyard of the Sforza family, in which a palazzetto had been built in 1549. The sloping site had passed from one cardinal to another during the sixteenth century, with no project fully getting off the ground. When Cardinal Alessandro Sforza met financial hardships, the still semi-suburban site was purchased in 1625 by Maffeo Barberini, who had come to the papal throne as Urban VIII. Eventually, three great architects worked to create a harmonious whole. Carlo Maderno, then at work extending the nave of St Peter's, was commissioned to enclose the Villa Sforza within a vast Renaissance block along the lines of Palazzo Farnese; however, the design quickly evolved into a precedent-setting combination of just such an urban seat of princely power combined with a garden front that had the nature of a suburban villa with semi-enclosed garden.



















Maderno began in 1627, assisted by his nephew Francesco Borromini. When Maderno died in 1629, Borromini was passed over in favor of Bernini, a young prodigy then known as a sculptor. The two architects worked briefly together on this project and at the Palazzo Spada: works were ended by Bernini in 1633. After the death of Urban VIII, the palace was confiscated under the Pamphili pope Innocent X, and returned to the Barberini only in 1653. The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was signed here on 4 November 1950, creating the European Court of Human Rights, and is a milestone in the protection of human rights.



















*Architecture*

The palace is disposed around a forecourt centered on Bernini's grand two-storey hall backed by an oval salone, with an extended wing dominating the piazza, which lies on a lower level. At the rear, a long wing protected the garden from the piazza below, above which it rose from a rusticated basement that was slightly battered like a military bastion. The main block presents three tiers of great arch-headed windows, like glazed arcades, a formula that was more Venetian than Roman. On the uppermost floor, Borromini's windows are set in a false perspective that suggests extra depth, a feature that has been copied into the 20th century. Flanking the hall, two sets of stairs lead to the piano nobile, a large squared staircase by Bernini to the left and a smaller oval staircase by Borromini to the right.



















Aside from Borromini's false-perspective window reveals, among the other influential aspects of Palazzo Barberini, ones that would be repeated throughout Europe, were the unit of a central two-storey hall backed by an oval salone and the symmetrical wings that extended forward from the main block to create a cour d'honneur. The *Salon ceiling is graced by Pietro da Cortona's masterpiece, the Baroque fresco of the Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power.* This vast panegyric allegory became highly influential in guiding decoration for palatial and church ceilings; its influence can be seen in other panoramic scenes such as the frescoed ceilings at Sant'Ignazio (by Pozzo); or those at Villa Pisani at Stra, the throne room of the Royal Palace of Madrid, and the Ca' Rezzonico in Venice (by Tiepolo).









*Triumph of the Barberini (Pietro da Cortona)*

*Also in the palace is a masterpiece of Andrea Sacchi*, a contemporary critic of the Cortona style, Divine Wisdom. The rooms of the piano nobile have frescoed ceilings by other seventeenth-century artists like Giuseppe Passeri and Andrea Camassei, plus, in the museum collection, precious detached frescoes by Polidoro da Caravaggio and his lover Maturino da Firenze. The garden is known as a giardino segreto ("secret garden"), for its concealment from an outsider's view. It houses a monument to Bertel Thorwaldsen, who had a studio in the nearby Teatro Barberini in 1822-1834.


















*La Fornarina (Raphael)*

*Galleries, museums and other attractions*

Today Palazzo Barberini houses the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, one of the most important painting collections in Italy. It includes, among many others, Raphael's portrait La fornarina, Caravaggio's Judith Beheading Holofernes, and a Hans Holbein portrait of Henry VIII. The palace is also home to the Italian Institute of Numismatics. Hidden in the cellars of the rear part of the building a Mithraeum has been found, dating probably from the second century AD.









*Giuditta e Oloferne (Caravaggio)*

---


----------



## buho (Sep 15, 2008)

This Caravaggio painting is one of my favourites.

*Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos (Córdoba, Spain)*

Fortified XIV century building, it was the home of Catholic Kings for 8 years, during the conquer of Granada (1484-1492). They received Cristopher Columbus (Cristóbal Colón de toa la vida) in 1486, asking for money for his travels (and casually he discovered America). Has several towers and beautiful gardens, and preserves the old moorish baths of califal age.


----------



## xiote (Apr 25, 2009)

edit:


----------



## buho (Sep 15, 2008)

*Palacio de Avellaneda (Burgos, Spain)*

Renaissance palace built in 1530 in a little village of Burgos, with mudejar and plateresc elements.


----------



## PlayasCity (Aug 10, 2008)

*Palacio de los Lopez - Asuncion, Paraguay*

Built in the XIX century, by command of then President Carlos A. Lopez...


----------



## PlayasCity (Aug 10, 2008)

*Fomer Presidential Palace of Honduras - Tegucigalpa, Honduras*


----------



## Pincio (May 30, 2007)

*Palazzo Ducale (Matua, Italy)*

UNESCO World Heritage Centre

The Palazzo Ducale di Mantova ("Ducal Palace") is a group of buildings in the Italian city of Mantua (Lombardy), built between the 14th and the 17th century mainly by the noble family of Gonzaga as their royal residence in the capital of their Duchy.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattia75/2303432092/

The buildings are connected by corridors and galleries and are enriched by inner courts and wide gardens. The complex includes some 500 rooms and occupies an area of c. 34,000 m². Although most famous for Mantegna's frescos in the Camera degli Sposi (Wedding Room), they have many other very significant architectural and painted elements.










The most ancient parts of the palace are the Palazzo del Capitano, built in the early 14th century by the Captain of the People Guido Buonacolsi (whose family ruled Mantua from 1271 to 1328) and the Magna Domus. At the end of the same century, Bartolino da Novara, one of the most renowned military architects of the time, erected the Castle of St. George. The Domus Nova was finished a century later by Luca Fancelli. He is responsible for the part called Corte Nuova ("New Court"), including the ducal apartments with famous fresco cycles by Giulio Romano.










The church of Santa Barbara, which had the role of Palace chapel ("Basilica Palatina") for the Gonzagas, was designed by Giovan Battista Bertani. Between the 16th and the 17th century, the painter and architect Antonio Maria Viani built the apartment of Vincenzo I and the so called Room of Metamorphoses and Loggia of Eleonora. The Gonzaga lived in the palace from 1328 to 1707, when the dynasty extinguished. Subsequently the edifices saw a sharp decline, which was halted in the 20th century with a continue process of restoration and the destination of the area as museum.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/helena_slavik/1564296045/

*CAMERA DEGLI SPOSI - MANTEGNA*

The Camera picta ("painted chamber"), also popularly known as the *Camera degli Sposi*, or "bridal chamber"—is a room frescoed with illusionistic paintings by Andrea Mantegna in the Ducal Palace, Mantua, Italy. It was painted between 1465 and 1474 and commissioned by Ludovico Gonzaga, and is notable for the use of trompe l'oeil details and its _di sotto in sù_ ceiling.









*Mantegna: Camera degli Sposi*

The "Court Scene" on the north wall shows Ludovico Gonzaga, dressed informally, with his wife Barbara of Brandenburg. They are seated with their relatives, while a group of courtiers fill the rest of the wall. The figures interact with an illusionistically expanded space is depicted. On the west wall is the "Meeting scene". This fresco shows Ludovico in official robes in an ideal meeting with his son cardinal Francesco Gonzaga, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III and Christian I of Denmark.









*Mantegna: Camera degli Sposi*

*The ceiling*

Mantegna's playful ceiling presents an oculus that illusionistically opens into a blue sky, with foreshortened putti playfully frolicking around a ballustrade. This was one of the earliest di sotto in sù ceiling paintings.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/241444751/
*Mantegna: Camera degli Sposi*

*The galleries*

The Galleria Nuova is a corridor built in 1778 by Giuseppe Piermarini to connect the Guastalla apartment to the Duke apartment. It houses several altarpieces from the early 16th century to the late 18th century by Francesco Borgani, Carlo Bononi, Spagnoletto and others. The gallery ends with the great Sala degli Arcieri ("Room of the Archers"), once housing the apartment of Duke Vincenzo. It is famous for an altarpiece by Peter Paul Rubens (1605), originally part of a triptych for the church of Santissima Trinità in the city, portraying the Gonzaga Family in Adoration of the Holy Trinity. Then the Galleria degli Specchi ("Mirrors Gallery") follows: this was built as an open loggia under Vincenzo I, with a neoclassicist decoration added in 1773-1779. The vault is frescoed by two pupils of Guido Reni.









*Mantegna: Camera degli Sposi*

---


----------



## buho (Sep 15, 2008)

*Palacio de Carlos V (Granada, Spain)*

In the land of the Alhambra, the emperor Carlos V decided in 1527 to make a palace according to a renaissance man likes. He destroyed a room of the Alhambra (cuarto de Comares), but made a novel manierist palace (designed by Pedro de Machuca, a spanish artist that learnt with Michellangelo), with a circular courtyard at the inside and a square look at the outside. Carlos V never lived there, so the architecture is finished, but not in decorative aspects. Nowadays it works as a museum with Alhambra pieces.


----------



## Pincio (May 30, 2007)

^^
Wow, it seems a royal palace!


----------



## Pincio (May 30, 2007)

*Casa degli Omenoni (Milan, Italy)*

The palace known as "Casa degli Omenoni" ("House of big men") in Milan, was build in 1562 for himself by sculptor Leone Leoni. Antonio Abbondio sculpted the telamons on the facade giving the name to the palace.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedalebarrique/481701467/









http://www.flickr.com/photos/e496202/3254359590/









http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/2524564161/









http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/3050548879/

---


----------



## Pincio (May 30, 2007)

*Ca' d'Oro (Venice, Italy)*

Ca' d'Oro (Palazzo Santa Sofia) is regarded as one of the most beautiful gothic houses on the Grand Canal in Venice. One of the older palazzos, it has always been known as Ca' d'Oro (golden house) due to the gilt and polychrome external decorations which once adorned its walls.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/motorsportszeta/123066591/

The Palazzo was built between 1428 and 1430 for the Contarini family, who provided Venice with eight Doges between 1043 and 1676. Upon election, each new Doge would leave his own palazzo and take residence in the Doge's Palace.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/pprats/221092740/

The architects of the Ca d'Oro were Giovanni Bon and his son Bartolomeo Bon. The work of these two sculptors and architects epitomises the Gothic style in Venice: they are best known for their work on the Doge's Palace and in particular the Porta della Carta with its monumental sculpture of the judgement of Solomon.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevharb/3317955994/

The principal façade of Ca' d'Oro facing onto the Grand Canal is built in the Bon's Venetian floral gothic style. Other nearby buildings in this style are Palazzo Barbaro and the Palazzo Giustinian. This elegant linear style favoured by the Venetian architects was not totally superseded by the flourishes of baroque until the end of the 16th century.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/wolf-rabe/3155505771/

The Venetian Gothic style is Byzantine in appearance. On the Ca' d'Oro's ground floor a recessed colonnaded loggia gives access to the entrance hall (portego de mezo) directly from the canal. Above this colonnade is the enclosed balcony of the principal salon on the piano nobile.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevharb/3317949202/

The columns and arches of this balcony have capitals which in turn support a row of quatrefoil windows of great delicacy; above this balcony is another enclosed balcony or loggia of a similar yet even lighter design.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/walhalla/2443915418/

To describe the style of the palazzo simply:- it is a cross between a medieval church and a Moorish temple. This wedding cake exterior gives no hint that the palazzo is in fact built (like most other Palazzi) around a small inner courtyard.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/2065922727/

Following the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797 the palazzo changed ownership several times. One 19th century owner, the ballet dancer Marie Taglioni, removed (in what today can be considered an act of vandalism) the Gothic stairway from the inner courtyard and also destroyed the ornate balconies overlooking the court.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/2260513490/

In 1922 the palazzo was bequeathed to the State by its last owner and saviour Baron Giorgio Franchetti who had acquired it in 1894. Following extensive restoration to its former glory (including the reconstruction of the stairway), it is now open to the public as a gallery.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/bramhall/2194519071/

---


----------



## oduguy1999 (Jul 27, 2004)

buho said:


> *Alcázares Reales de Sevilla (Sevilla, Spain)* Unesco World Heritage Centre
> 
> Palatine complex with parts of several ages, including moorish, mudejar and manierism art. The ancient muslim palace was reformed by Pedro I de Castilla at the XIV century, by architects and workers that came from the Alhambra (Pedro I had really good relations with nasri kings). The gardens are important too, and were reformed at 16th century.


This complex is so breathtaking. I was amazed by the gardens, fountains, walls and ceilings, stunning.


----------



## Pincio (May 30, 2007)

*Palazzo Dandolo/Hotel Danieli (Venice, Italy)*

Another great example of venetian gothic building.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/helena_slavik/3223862586/

The Hotel to many just known as the Danieli has a long and outstanding history. The building of the Venetian luxury hotel Danieli dates back to the late 14th century when the Dandolo family raised a palace in calle delle Rasse overlooking the Riva degli Schiavoni. At the time, the noble Dandolo family had already given four Dogi - for life elected chief magistrates - to the Most Serene Republic of Venice: Enrico in 1192, Giovanni in 1280, Francesco in 1329 and Andrea in 1343.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/helena_slavik/3223862586/

In 1498, for the first time in a historic document, the Palazzo Dandolo was mentioned as a place for prestigious travelers to stay when the prince of Salerno, Antonello da Sanseverino, together with his retinue of 44 people stayed at the palace. They entered the building from calle delle Rasse as Riva degli Schiavoni was too narrow to build an entrance at that time.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonyeh/418841262/

Over the centuries, numerous famous travelers honored the palace with their presence on the occasion of a trip to Venice, often related to pompous social events. In February 1525, a play was staged at the Palace Dandolo which was attended by the Apostolic Legate in disguise, the Ambassador from Mantua and one of the cousins of the King of England who studied in Padua.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/3071300413/

In 1536, Maria, the widow of Andrea Dandolo, split the property with her brothers Pietro and Bernardo Gritti, who took over the first floor, where the French Ambassador used to find accommodation. The rest of the building was split as marriage settlement between Dandolo's daughters.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/kerrberr/2420492756/

In the 17th century, the Palazzo Dandolo changed hands. The new owners, the Mocenigos and the Bernardos, continued the palace's lavish lifestyle. In 1630, to celebrate the wedding of his daughter Giustiniana (the only child of his first marriage with Elisa de Alvise Pisani) to Lorenzo Giustinian, Girolamo Mocenigo commissioned an opera from Claudio Monteverdi (click here for sheetmusic). The libretto for the piece entitled Proserpina rapita was written by Giulio Strozzi. Girolamo Scolari, was in charge of the dancers, Giuseppe Schioppi, one of the finest designers of the day, brought the scenery and stage machines to life. Monteverdi's music is lost, with the exception of a posthumously published trio, but the libretto with the dedication dated April 16, 1630 survived and was even re-issued in 1644 when Francesco Sacrati wrote a new opera around it for the Teatro San Moisé. The elite of the Venetian aristocracy attended the representation. The Proserpina rapita was staged in the palace's apartment destined to the couple.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurayluis/311421221/

Incidentally, in 1613, Claudio Monteverdi had moved to Venice where the Procuratori della Serenissima Repubblica Veneta appointed him as „master of the chapel“ in the Basilica San Marco. As mentioned above, among the clients and patrons supporting Monteverdi was Girolamo Mocenigo, the owner of Palazzo Dandolo, together with his son in law, Lorenzo Giustinian. In addition to La Proserpina Rapita, Mocenigo ordered another opera, to be played with „dramatic action“, from Monteverdi called Il Combattimento di Tancredi. The operatic scena for three voices was staged at the palace between 1624 and 1625 and contains one of the earliest uses of pizzicato in classical music. In 1797, when the Venetian Republic was conquered by Napoleon Bonaparte and lost its independence after 1070 years, the Bernardo and the Mocenigo families still owned the Palazzo Dandolo.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/bruno_conquet/382580846/

A major change came on October 24, 1822: the hotelier Giuseppe Dal Niel from Friuli, nicknamed „Danieli“, who already managed the „Leon Bianco“, rented the second floor of the Palazzo Dandolo from Elena Michiel, the widow of Alvise Bernardo. As early as on February 25, 1824 the able businessman managed to purchase it. Dal Niel aka Danieli restored the palace to its former glory. The annals show that in one year he spent 100.000 Austrian liras to bring the glamour back to the building. In 1840, his adopted daughter, Alfonsina Clement, bought the first floor from the Mocenigo family. Incidentally, Dal Niel named his hotel Le Royal Danieli because „Danieli“ alone sounded not posh enough.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/alainpoder/681611247/

In 1895, a Mister Genovesi and the Campi Bozzi & C. took over the Hotel Royal Danieli. They new owners renovated the palace and introduced innovations of the time, including elevators, vapor radiators and electric power. Before the turn of the century, they connected the historic Danieli with the palace next door with a bridge between the two first floors. The „new“ building had been raised in 1855. Formerly, it had been used as the headquarters of the Customs offices. March 17th, 1906 was a major moment in the Italian hotel history: Count Giuseppe Volpi, with the financial help of the Banca Commerciale Italiana, established the Compagnia Italiana Grandi Alberghi (CIGA). The CIGA purchased the Venice Hotel Limited and, therefore, the Hotel Royal Danieli, together with for more hotels in Venice, namely the Grand Hotel, The Roma & Suisse, the Vittoria and the Beau Rivage.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/alainpoder/681615497/in/set-72157600583271941/

From today's hotel terrace you can still enjoy the view of the Ponte dei sospiri, which connects the old prisons to the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace. Since Lord Byron's writings on the subject, prisoners are said to have given their last sigh crossing the bridge heading towards their execution although, in reality, the Holy Inquisition was no longer active in Venice when The Bridge of Sighs was built. The prison was rather used for small-time crooks. You can however still visit the former Venetian torture chambers.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/alainpoder/681597591/

*Famous guests at the Danieli *

Charles Dickens in 1844 and 1853, Richard Wagner in 1858, 1861 and 1880 and Truman Capote in 1950 and, more recently, Bruce Wills, are just some of hundreds of artists, politicians and otherwise famous people who have stayed at the hotel.

*History: three famous love stories at the Hotel Danieli in Venice
- George Sand and Alfred de Musset at the Danieli*

Amantine Aurore Lucile Dupin (1804-1876), later Baroness Dudevant, better known under her pseudonym George Sand, the famous French novelist was notorious for wearing men's clothing and smoking tobacco in public. In 1831, she left her husband, Baron Casimir Dudevant, and moved to Paris with he two children. Two years later, she met the aristocrat, poet, novelist and leading contributor to the magazine Des Deux Mondes Alfred de Musset (1810-1857). The two lovers decided to travel through Italy. In The Story of My Live, she revealed that they flipped a coin to decide between Rome and Venice. It showed ten times heads for Venice, and she decided that it was fate, traveling to Venice via Florence.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/96dpi/2931012913/

On December 30th, 1833 George Sand and Alfred de Musset arrived by gondola at the Hotel Danieli, at the time called Albergo Reale (Hotel Royal). They took two small rooms next to each other in the mezzanine. Hers - room number 10 - had a small balcony overlooking the Ponte della Paglia.

After one month at the Albergo Reale, Alfred fell seriously ill. Doctor Pietro Pagello was called. By the time the poet had recovered, an overwhelming passion between the young and handsome doctor and George Sand had blossomed. She moved in with the doctor and Alfred had to accept the facts and return alone to Paris. Later the loving couple moved to Paris, where the love story was short lived and the doctor returned to Venice alone. The troubled relationship by George Sand and George de Musset was told in the movie Les enfants du sičcle (1999), written and directed by Diane Kurys, staring Juliette Binoche as George Sand, Benoît Magimel as Alfred de Musset and Stefano Dionisi as Pietro Pagello. Masssimo de Rossi plays the manager of the Danieli. The film was shot in the actual hotel rooms Sand and Musset had occupied. Incidentally, Kurys starting point for the film was Musset's book La confession d'un enfant du sičcle.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/librarianarpita/2348086105/

---


----------



## Plaas (Dec 16, 2008)

*Paleis het Loo*, Apeldoorn

Pictures of wikipedia.










The palace gardens are famous.


----------



## Maxximus (Apr 27, 2009)

Venice :nuts:


----------



## Plaas (Dec 16, 2008)

*Binnenhof, The Hague*

In the very heart of The Hague you find the _Binnenhof_. Build as a residence for the counts of the former county of Holland, it became a political en cultural centre. Nowadays it is used as parliament, government office and museum. The building, extended every century since the 13th century, dominates the innercity of The Hague.










North entrance.










The _Ridderzaal_, used for special celebrations, is the oldest part of the Binnenhof. Inside you find the throne of the Dutch queen.



















Another pic from the "Hofvijver", a big pond that gives the building a beautiful reflection. On the left you see the _Mauritshuis_, now used as a museum, and next to it the _Torentje_ ("little tower"), were the Prime Minister has his office.










The Binnenhof with the modern skyline of The Hague in background.










All pics of Wikipedia.


----------



## buho (Sep 15, 2008)

*Palacio Laredo (Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain)*

Neo-mudejar palace built in 1881.


----------



## Pincio (May 30, 2007)

*Palazzo Medici Riccardi (Florence, Italy)*

The Palazzo Medici, also called the Palazzo Medici Riccardi for the later family that acquired and expanded it, is a Renaissance palace located in Florence, Italy.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/borisvergote/363319542/

The palace was designed by Michelozzo di Bartolomeo[1] for Cosimo de' Medici, of the Medici family, and was built between 1445[2] and 1460. It was well known for its stone masonry that includes rustication and ashlar.[3] The tripartite elevation was used here as a revelation of the Renaissance spirit of rationality, order, and classicism of human scale. This tripartite division is emphasized horizontal stringcourses that divide the building into stories of decreasing height. This makes the building seem lighter as the eye moves up to the extremely heavy cornice that caps and clearly defines the building's outline. Michelozzo di Bartolomeo was influenced in his building of this palace by both Roman principles and Brunelleschian principles. During the Renaissance revival of classical culture, Roman elements were often replicated in architecture, both built and imagined in paintings. In the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, the rusticated masonry and the cornice had precedents in Roman art.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/bramhall/3212899938/

Similarly, the great Renaissance architect Brunelleschi used Roman techniques and influenced Michelozzo. The open colonnaded court that is the center of the Palazzo plan has roots in the cloisters that developed from Roman peristyles. The once open corner loggia and shop fronts, were walled in during the 16th century. In their place many believe Michelangelo placed ground-floor "kneeling windows" (finestre inginocchiati) supported on innovative scrolling consoles and framed in pedimented aedicules that recall the the similarly-treated main doorway. The Palazzo Medici Riccardi was one of the numerous palazzi built during the period of Florentine prosperity. The building reflects the accumulated wealth of the Medici family, yet it is somewhat reserved.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/blueberries/139548335/

The fifteen-year-old Galeazzo Maria Sforza was entertained in Florence in 17 April 1459, and left a letter describing, perhaps in the accomplished terms of a secretary, the all-but-complete palazzo, where his whole entourage was nobly accommodated:

_...a house that is — as much in the handsomeness of the ceilings, the height of the walls, smooth finish of the entrances and windows, number of chambers and salons, elegances of the studies, worth of the books, neatness and gracefulness of the gardens, as it is in the tapestry decorations, cassoni of inestimable workmanship and value, noble sculptures, designs of infinite kinds, as well of priceless silver — the best I may ever have seen"._









http://www.flickr.com/photos/john_yeager/2614045841/

*The Magi Chapel*

The Magi Chapel is a chapel in Palazzo Medici Riccardi of Florence. *It includes a famous cycle of frescoes by the Renaissance master Benozzo Gozzoli, painted in 1459-1461.* The chapel is on the piano nobile of the palace, and was one of the first decorations executed after the completion of the edifice by Michelozzo. Gozzoli painted his cycle over three of the walls, the subject being the Journey of the Magi to Bethlehem, but the religious theme was a pretext to depict the procession of important people who arrived in Florence in occasion of the Council of Florence (1438-1439). In this occasion the Medici could boast to have favoured the reconciliation between the Catholic and the Byzantine churches. The luxury of the Byzantine dignitaries is manifest, and shows the impression they would have at the time on the Florentine population.









*Magi Chapel*

Over a rich landscape probably influenced by Flemish artists (perhaps through tapestries), Gozzoli portrayed the members of the Medici family riding in the foreground of the fresco on the wall at the right of the altar. A young Lorenzo il Magnifico leads the procession on a white horse, followed by his father Piero the Gouty and the family founder, Cosimo. Then come Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta and Galeazzo Maria Sforza, respectively lord of Rimini and Milan: they did not take part in the Council, but were guests of the Medici in Florence in the time the frescoes were painted. After them is a procession of illustrious Florentines, such as the humanists Marsilio Ficino and the Pulci brothers, the members of the Art Guilds and Benozzo himself. The painter can be recognized for he is looking towards the observer and for the scroll on his red hat, reading Opus Benotii.









*Magi Chapel: Benozzo Gozzoli frescoes*

On the following wall, the bearded character on a white horse is the Byzantine emperor John VIII Palaiologos; the three girls next to him have been identified as the three daughters of Piero de' Medici, Nannina, Bianca and Maria. Finally, on the wall to the left of the altar are Pope Pius II, portrayed as an old man on a mule, preceded by Lorenzo's elder brother, Giuliano, carrying a leopard on his horse. In the same scene can be seen the Joseph, Patriarch of Constantinople and other Byzantine dignitaries, surrounded by exotic animals, such as a lynx and a falcon.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/iceninejon/292864301/

In the apse Gozzoli frescoed two choirs of angels, following the style of his master, Fra Angelico. The altarpiece is a copy of Filippo Lippi's Adoration of the Child, now in Berlin. The lively colors and details of the frescoes are backed by the precious mosaics of the pavement, the gilted ceiling and the wooden stalls designed by Giuliano da Sangallo. Gozzoli patron, Piero de' Medici, felt some of the seraphim were unsuitable, and wanted them painted over. Although the artist agreed to do this, it was never actually done. In the 17th century, parts of the frescoes were destroyed to create access for a new staircase, where is the current entrance.









http://www.flickr.com/photos/monyca/339962558/

---


----------



## Arpels (Aug 9, 2004)

*Casa de Mateus - Vila Real - Portugal*

XVIII cent. palace built to the "morgado" of Mateus, project of Nasoni:


----------



## Arpels (Aug 9, 2004)

Palazzo Medici Riccardi :drool:


----------



## vittorio tauber (Jul 30, 2008)

>


Gorgeous Het Loo Gardens.
The formal gardens were re-designed after the original layout some 30 years ago, right?









And the long façade of Binnenhof reflected in the water makes me speechless.


----------



## zazo (Dec 5, 2005)

PALACIO REAL DE LA MAGDALENA - ESPAÑA
Spain









































Caballerizas y hotel real


----------



## buho (Sep 15, 2008)

*Palacio de Aranjuez (Madrid, Spain)*


----------



## Maxximus (Apr 27, 2009)

Love Aranjuez :nuts:


----------



## KWT (Dec 8, 2008)

*Abdeen Palace*
_Cairo, Egypt_

Former Royal Palace. Current residence of the President.


----------



## KWT (Dec 8, 2008)

*Golestan Palace*
_Tehran, Iran_










































































































*The Sun Throne*










*Coronation of the Emperor and Empress of Iran on the Peacock Throne*


----------



## KWT (Dec 8, 2008)

*Topkapi Palace*
_Istanbul, Turkey_


----------



## KWT (Dec 8, 2008)

*Topkapi Palace Part II*


----------



## Nuriarami (Jun 24, 2007)

..


----------



## KWT (Dec 8, 2008)

*Topkapi Palace Part III*


----------

