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Palace of los Cárdenas

Ocaña, Mesa de Ocaña, Toledo

1 Villages · 14 Monuments · 2 Activities · 5 Curiosities · 2 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

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Palace of los Cárdenas

Monument · Ocaña, Mesa de Ocaña, Toledo

The town's chief civil monument and a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection), a palace built in the late 15th century in the transition from Gothic to Mudéjar style by Gutierre de Cárdenas, a native of Ocaña, grand commander of León in the Order of Santiago and adviser to the Catholic Monarchs. Its Gothic façade bears a large 'S' from the Cárdenas coat of arms; the rectangular inner courtyard has eighteen octagonal stone pillars whose capitals display the arms of the Cárdenas and Enríquez families alongside the scallop shells of the Order of Santiago. In one of its Mudéjar chambers, a wooden skirting bears an Arabic Kufic inscription translated as 'there is no god but Allah, Muhammad is his messenger'. It passed to the dukes of Frías and, after several transfers, to the Ministry of Justice; today it houses Ocaña's town hall.

Photo: Adercilla (CC BY-SA 3.0)

What to see and do in Ocaña