Ayllon - El Pueblo Español
INICIO
  Ayllón    
 
 Poble Espanyol
THE CIVIL BUT OLD BUILDING

Going round the 'Pueblo Español' you can see two reproductions of buildings in Ayllon. The one you are looking at now is perhaps the oldest civil building in Ayllon. It has been used for different purposes and in the early years of the last century, it served as the barracks for the Civil Guard of the town. It was renovated around about 1990 when the ground floor became a branch of the Caja de Ahorros de Segovia savings bank, and the first floor was turned into a centre for the retired.

 
REPRODUCTION OF THE CIVIL BUT OLD BUILDING
THE PALACE OF THE CONTRERAS

The second reproduction is this palace which has been declared a national monument. Inside there are beautiful pieces of craftsmanship and valuable objects. Although it is known by some as the palace of Don Álvaro de Luna, that could not have been true since he was beheaded in 1453 and Don Juan de Contreras ordered work to begin on the building in 1497 as the inscription on the façade says and which can be seen below:

   
REPRODUCTION OF THE PALACE OF THE CONTRERAS
DETAILS OF THE COVER OF THE PALACE OF THE CONTRERAS

This wide Isabelline façade, the doorway of which is framed with a Franciscan cordon with three shields leaning towards the left, is a wall with battlements and there are eight crosspieces on its edges. The following inscription, in Gothic script, can be seen::

"REINANDO EN CASTILLA Y EN ARAGÓN LOS MUY ALTOS PRÍNCIPES DON FERNANDO Y DOÑA ISABEL ESTA/CASA MANDO HACER EL MUY VIRTUOSO FIJODALGO: JUAN CONTRERAS EL AÑO MCCCXCVII".

(In the reign of his Royal Highness Don Fernando and her Royal Highness Doña Isabel, in Castilla and Aragon, the honourable and noble Juan Contreras had this house built in the year MCCCXCVII).
It seems this character, who eventually came to live in Ayllon, was one of the most important aldermen of Segovia and was present at the coronation of the Catholic Queen Isabel which was held in Saint Michael's atrium on the 13th of December, 1497.
INICIO

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