JAÉN

The Palace of the Counts of Villardompardo in Jaén city, was built in the sixteenth century by Fernando Torres y Portugal, I Count of Villardompardo and Viceroy of Peru. It has a Renaissance style.

 

During the 17th century until the mid-18th century, the Palace was used as a bank.

 

In the late 18th century, the building was purchased by the Junta del Real Hospicio, passing it to the Beneficiencia Provincial, and the Hospicio de Mujeres settled in it.

 

In the early 19th century,  the building  was modified.

 

Since the early 20th century, the building was part of the real Sstate patrimony of the Diputación Provincial de Jaén, an institution that between 1901 and 1903 extended the Hospice, demolished  houses and adjoined them to the Palace. In 1970, after the transfer of the Hospicio to a new building,  the restoration of the Arab Baths began.

 

The central courtyard of the Palace is formed by a square of thick walls where the windows and doors of various rooms are openned. Within this square fits another by a columned gallery formed in two levels, with three columns on each side and a total of eight columns in each of the two levels.

 

For the gallery upstairs, the Tuscan Order was chosen. The columns and the arches are shorter than those in the lower level. Currently, this level bays is closed with a wooden railing balustrade.

 

For the construction of the lower gallery, the Toscano Order was chosen,  applying round arches very slightly reduced.

 

Built in the eleventh century, the Arabian Baths are located in the basement of the Palacio de Villardompardo. It has 4 rooms:

 

The hall is a transverse hall with separate bedrooms at both ends, separated from the rest of the room by horseshoe arches on half columns. The hall is covered by a barrel vault and has 18 starry skylights. The floor was covered with white marble and walls plastered and painted with decorative arches in red on white background.

 

The cold room is covered by a barrel vault in which 12 skylight are positioned.

 

The warm room consists of a large square hall which contains another central square; this has a dome on scallops. The dome rests on horseshoe arches supported by eight columns. In the four corners of the great room there are four  smaller domes, and the remaining spaces are filled with four barrel vaults with 3 skylights in each.

 

The hot room is covered by a barrel vault with 15 skylights. This room is located next to the boiler where the water was heated. In its walls are hidden chimmneis tours through the hot air circulates. Under its stone floor  numerous small brick pillars support it, allowing hot air to circulate.