Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso

Coordinates: 40°53′51″N 4°00′16″W / 40.89750°N 4.00444°W / 40.89750; -4.00444
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Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso
Palacio Real de La Granja de San Ildefonso
Map
General information
Architectural styleRococo
LocationReal Sitio de San Ildefonso (Segovia), Spain
Construction started1721
OpenedExclusive property for the monarch: 1724
ManagementPatrimonio Nacional
Technical details
Size25,000 square metres (270,000 sq ft)
Grounds146 hectares (360 acres) of gardens
Design and construction
Architect(s)Teodoro Ardemans
Official namePalacio de San Ildefonso con sus dependencias y Jardines
TypeNon-movable
CriteriaMonument
Designated11 August 1925
Reference no.RI-51-0000314
Official nameJardines del Palacio de San Ildefonso
TypeNon-movable
CriteriaHistoric Garden
Designated3 June 1931
Reference no.RI-52-0000002

The Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso (Spanish: Palacio Real de La Granja de San Ildefonso), known as La Granja, is an early 18th-century palace in the small town of

San Ildefonso, located in the hills near Segovia and 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Madrid, within the Province of Segovia in central Spain
.

It became the summer residence of the

Kings of Spain from the 1720s during the reign of King Felipe V. The palace is in a restrained Baroque style, surrounded by extensive gardens in the formal Jardin à la française style
with sculptural fountains. It is now open to the public as a museum.

History

"Fame" fountain and lateral garden facade of La Granja.
Baroque main facade with architectural sculptures.

The area was a favourite hunting grounds for many

San Ildefonso
(Saint Ildephonsus of Toledo), which gave this place its first name.

Santa Maria del Parral
monastery in Segovia, who built an almshouse and developed a granja (farm) alongside the lodge and shrine.

Palace

The site was purchased from the monks in 1719 by King

cour d'honneur
on the approaching side, and formal gardens, with a main axis centred on the palace, that were surrounded by woodland in which further hidden garden features were disposed. Like Versailles, La Granja began as a retreat from the court but became a centre of royal government.

For the architect, Philip began with an unpretentious project by the Spanish architect

Elizabeth Farnese of Parma,[1]
and his assistant, Giovanni Battista Sacchetti.

When the King decided to abdicate in 1724, his intention was to retire to La Granja. Unfortunately Philip's heir,

Nuevo Baztan in the province of Madrid, was moved under the direction of its Catalan foreman, Ventura Sit, to San Ildefonso, where supplies of timber were plentiful, and a royal patron was near. The best glass of Venetian type produced in the works dates from the last quarter of the 18th century.[3]
As La Granja de San Ildefonso, the glassworks continue today as a subsidiary of Saint Gobain.

The church was selected as his burial site by Philip, marking a break with his Habsburg predecessors. The frescoes by

Francisco Bayeu, were badly damaged in a fire of 1918.[4]

Philip's successor

Isabel Farnese, who was effectively forced to live there, well away from Madrid politics, for the duration of his reign. She maintained a considerable court there. At her death in 1766, it reverted to the Crown in the person of her son Charles III
.

For the next one hundred and twenty years, La Granja was the court's main summer palace, and many royal weddings and burials, state treaties, and political events took place within its walls. However, from the 1880's the court preferred to sojourn at the seaside palaces in the Basque Country and the royal site became rarely used. In 1918 a major fire damaged the palace and although the damage was repaired much of the interior decoration and contents were lost.

Currently the royal site is part the Patrimonio Nacional of Spain, which holds and maintains many of the Crown's lands and palaces.[5] It is a popular tourist attraction, with gardens, and interiors displaying rooms with marble from Carrara, Japanese lacquer, and crystal chandeliers; portraits and other paintings; and a Museum of Flemish tapestries.[6]

Jardin à la française style garden at La Granja.

Gardens

Extending over 1,500 acres (6.1 km2), the gardens around the palace are one of the best examples of 18th-century European garden design in the Jardin à la française style in Spain.[7] The French designer from the official French royal offices of Robert de Cotte was René Carlier,[8] who used the natural slope of the site in the palace grounds design, for enhancing axial visual perspectives, and to provide sufficient head for water to shoot out/up from the twenty-six sculptural fountains in the formal gardens and landscape park.

Sculptors arrived from Paris to execute designs on the site. They included: René Frémin (1672–1744, at La Granja until 1738), to whom the execution of many vases and sculptures was attributed in 18th-century inventories; Jean Thierry; and others who are little more than names in archival references.

Fountains

All of the fountains represent themes from classical

ornament".[10]

The "Baths of Diana" fountain is the focal point of several garden alleés, and was made from lead and then painted to look like bronze and marble. It and its marble statues form some of the most impressive and well conserved architecture from this period in Spain. Fremin, Thierry, and Bousseau led a team of sculptors who between 1720 and 1745 created this stunning feature, brought to life by the fountains' spectacular water displays. However, regarding the elaborate "Baths of Diana", the chronically depressed Philip remarked, "It has cost me three millions and amused me three minutes."

The original waterworks and piping are still functional. They rely purely on gravity to project water up the fountain jets, including to the 40 metres (130 ft) height of the "Fame" fountain. A reservoir, El Mar (the Sea), lies secluded at the highest point of the landscape park, and provides the supply and water pressure for the whole system. In spite of the protests of the royal accountant, in 1736 twelve dromedaries were sent from the Royal Palace of Aranjuez to help in the works of the reservoir. The last one died in 1740.[11]

In the present day, only a few fountains are active on each day. Twice a year, on the feast days of

San Fernando and of San Luis
, all twenty-six fountains are set to jet and flow, providing memorable experiences.

Gallery

  • La Granja facade at Patio de la Herradura.
    La Granja facade at Patio de la Herradura.
  • Fountains and Patio de Coches facade.
    Fountains and Patio de Coches facade.
  • Fountain in the gardens of La Granja.
    Fountain in the gardens of La Granja.
  • Facade detail.
    Facade detail.
  • Sphinx on rear terrace at La Granja.
    Sphinx on rear terrace at La Granja.
  • El Mar (The Sea)
    El Mar (The Sea)
  • Patio de la Herradura courtyard
    Patio de la Herradura courtyard
  • Print of La Granja palace and gardens in 1873.
    Print of La Granja palace and gardens in 1873.
  • Royal chapel at La Granja.
    Royal chapel at La Granja.
  • Fountain and music temple in gardens.
    Fountain and music temple in gardens.
  • Interior of Retreat Room.
    Interior of Retreat Room.
  • Funerary Monument of King Philip V and Elizabeth Farnese, by Dumandre & Puthois.
    Funerary Monument of King
    Elizabeth Farnese
    , by Dumandre & Puthois.

See also

References

  1. Maria Luisa of Savoy from the House of Savoy
    , the great patrons of Juvarra, but the court style during her lifetime was resolutely French
  2. ^ Yves Bottineau, L'Art de Cour dans l'Espagne de Philippe V 1700-1746 (Bordeaux, 1965) sets the construction of La Granja in the broader context of court art.
  3. ^ Frank Gibson, "La Granja Glass" The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 39 No. 225 (December 1921), pp. 304, 308-309.
  4. ^ Xavier Bray, "The Iconography of Francisco Bayeu's Frescoes for the Colegiata at La Granja de San Ildefonso" The Burlington Magazine 139 No. 1133 (August 1997, pp. 543-547), p. 543; José Manuel de la Mano, "Tiepolo's Commission for the Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity at La Granja de San Ildefonso" The Burlington Magazine 139 No. 1133 (August 1997), pp. 536-543)
  5. ^ Patrimonio Nacional: Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso Archived 2016-01-27 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Spain.info: La Granja de San Ildefonso Royal Palace
  7. ^ Patrimonio Nacional: Gardens of the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso Archived 2016-01-27 at the Wayback Machine, "History" tab.
  8. ^ Carlier died in 1722, having laid out the main structural features, it is assumed. Esteban Boutelou continued in his place. The main source for information on the gardens is still Jeanne Digard, Les jardins de la Granja et la sculpture décorative (Paris) 1934.
  9. Bibliothèque Nationale
    . The discovery in Spain of an Oppenord sketchbook of iconography opens the possibility that Oppenord travelled to Spain. (Pons 337, note 7)
  10. ^ Pons 1989:340.
  11. ISSN 1576-7914
    . Retrieved 19 July 2022.

External links

40°53′51″N 4°00′16″W / 40.89750°N 4.00444°W / 40.89750; -4.00444