The 19th Duke of Alba recently opened Palacio de Las Dueñas, his grand residence in Seville where he and his family still reside, to the public. The grounds and ground level rooms, except the kitchens, are open to public. This includes a beautiful library! Let’s get to it.
Other fascinating highlights, besides the beautiful ready to use library, include the Gothic-Mudéjar and Renaissance architecture, multiple Renaissance and Islamic gardens, over 1400 pieces of art; beautiful tiled walls and floor; beautiful gardens; and a special exhibit on the Duchess of Alba. Here’s the grand entrance gate and map showing all the green gardens.
The gardens are spectacular. Seville has been in a drought for several years, but this year they’ve had lots of rain and even some flooding. Here’s the gardens and the resident cat after a drink from the fountain.
The palace was named after a building next door called Convento de Santa María de las Dueñas (Convent of the Holy Mary of the Ladies). It was built between the 1600s and 1700s, and sadly demolished in 1868. But the name Las Dueñas, referring to the female landowners, lives on. More garden photos are below in honor of the ladies.
Las Dueñas was initially built by the Lords of the House of Bermej. But in 1612, the palace belonged to the sixth Duke of Alba and has remained in the House of Alba ever since. I believe it was acquired through a marriage between the families. Here’s some interior photos.
And there’s a special literary connection to Las Dueñas by a famous Spanish poet. In 1875 Antonio Machado was born here and where he spent his childhood years until he was eight. During that time, his father was an administrator and lived here with his family. Antonio incorporated some fond childhood memories of Las Dueñas into his poetry. Here’s a tribute to the poet near the outer wall by Las Dueñas’s entrance.
A fascinating special exhibit honored the current Duke’s mother, the Dutchess Cayetana. Her full name was María del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, and she was the 18th Duchess of Alba. In 2014, she died in Seville at the age of 88, and this residence was said to be her favorite. Here’s a wedding photo, a photo with the older Queen of Spain, and some of her clothing on display.
Duchess Cayetana was an independent member of Spanish nobility, clearly following her own path. After her first husband died, she remarried, and when he died, she married again. I admire her for maneuvering through old-fashioned rules, following her heart, and being a modern woman. Here’s what may have been her car along with a back-up horse carriage.
She supported many good causes such as animal rights, but also attended bullfights. Here’s a painting of a bullfight in Seville from another palace museum. As you can see, many horses were injured and died, and the terrified bulls often die a slow painful death from multiple sword wounds.
The Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen described a bullfight in his published travel memoir on Spain. He loved visiting Malaga in the 1860s, but it too painful for him to watch the dying horses and bullfight, so he left before it ended. Today, horses may be spared from the ring, but it must be a terribly stressful way for any animal to die.
Duchess Cayetana hosted many celebrities at her home at Las Dueñas, including many royals and American women you may recognize: Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Wallis Simpson, and Grace Kelly. You can read more about her life on Wikipedia. Link here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cayetana_Fitz-James_Stuart
The onsite gift shop has a special book about her life: CAYETANA, THE DUCHESS OF ALBA: ART, ARISTOCRACY, AND THE SOUL OF SPAIN. Based on the Wikipedia update and the exhibit photos with information in English, she lived an extraordinary life, so it should be a fascinating read. If you read it, please post a comment here or let me know. Here’s a link to the book’s publisher to order: https://eu.assouline.com/products
Want to see or learn more online about Las Dueñas? The English version of Las Dueñas’s website has more info online: https://www.lasduenas.es/en
I hope you’ve enjoyed this international library blog. My photos of the house don’t do it justice! It’s so beautiful in person. Here are some other books about Cayetana.
Karen Stensgaard loves to travel, visit unusual libraries, and blog about them. Sadly, hundreds of her photo blogs never got finalized. Once she’s home, writing novels and the real world interferes. So this time she wrote the blog on her iPhone’s notes app and used her iPad mini to post it to her website’s app. Still tough without a laptop. She hope this works, since it’s an easier solution while on the road. She also post short updates on library visits to her Facebook “Karen Stensgaard, Novelist” page, if you’d like to see more.
KAREN STENSGAARD 