Markeskua Palace
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Markeskua Palace, also known as the Tower of Isasi (''Isasi Dorrea'' in Basque, ''Torre de Isasi'' in Spanish) or Palace of the Marquis of Isasi, is a
renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
noble house located in the Basque town of
Eibar Eibar (, ) is a city and municipality within the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of Euskadi. It is the capital of the '' eskualde / comarca'' of Debabarrena. Eibar has 27,138 inhabitants ( Eustat, 2018). Its chief industry is ...
(Spain).


History

Marquis Martin Lopez Isasi and his wife Domenja Orbea gave orders to build it in the sixteenth century. It was built, as was customary, outside the village proper, on the road to
Ermua Ermua is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. In 2019, Ermua had 15,880 inhabitants. Ermua is a town in the Durangaldea comarca of the province of Biscay in nor ...
. At the time, members of the Isasi family held important positions in the Spanish court. In 1631, king
Philip IV of Spain Philip IV (, ; 8 April 160517 September 1665), also called the Planet King (Spanish: ''Rey Planeta''), was King of Spain from 1621 to his death and (as Philip III) King of Portugal from 1621 to 1640. Philip is remembered for his patronage of the ...
entrusted the education of his illegitimate son Francisco Fernando Isidro (Francis Ferdinand Isidore) to Juan Isasi Idiakez, the marquis at the time. The boy lived at this house from age 4 to 7, when he died on March 11, 1634. It does not seem that this fact bothered the king too much, since a few months later, in November 1634, Philip entrusted the marquis with the education of his son and legitimate heir Balthasar Charles, the Prince of Asturias. However, there is no notice that Balthasar Charles ever lived at this house; he also died young, at age 16, but in
Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...
. Since the 18th century, the building was occupied by a congregation of nuns. In the last quarter of the 20th century, the nuns left and a Basque-language school or
ikastola An (, plural ) is a type of primary and secondary school in the Basque Autonomous Community, Navarre and (to a much lesser extent) the French Basque Country (see Basque Country) in which pupils are taught either entirely or predominantly in the ...
used the building. In the 21st century, the city council renewed the building at ceded its use to the
Basque Summer University The Basque Summer University (in Basque and officially: Udako Euskal Unibertsitatea, UEU) is an educational institution created in 1973 for the promotion of the Basque language at the university level. It offers courses, congresses and seminars ...
, which is headqueartered there since 2000.


Description

It is a building with a quadrangular
floor plan In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a technical drawing to scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a structure. Dimensio ...
and a
hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including Tented roof, tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other ve ...
. It has attached to the left side a lower building that is covered with three waters. The lateral and rear
façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...
s are made of
masonry Masonry is the craft of building a structure with brick, stone, or similar material, including mortar plastering which are often laid in, bound, and pasted together by mortar (masonry), mortar. The term ''masonry'' can also refer to the buildin ...
and the main one is built in ashlar. The facades finish off in a wooden
eave The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural sty ...
with carved cannons. The palace has a ground floor and three heights, with three openings on the ground floor. The a central access in a round arch
voussoir A voussoir ( UK: ; US: ) is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault.“Voussoir, N., Pronunciation.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, June 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/7553486115. Acces ...
ed in
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
ashlars. The arch is flanked by two lintelled and framed windows. Between the first and second heights and centered on the façade is the coat of arms of the Isasis, large and bordered by two lions. The right façade presents two lintelled and framed windows on the ground floor. On the main façade, three lintelled and framed windows per floor. On the left side, on the ground floor, a lintelled access, a platband delimiting the heights and two linteled and framed windows on the first height.


References

{{coord, 43.18336, -2.47867, format=dms, type:landmark_region:ES, display=title Buildings and structures in Eibar Palaces in the Basque Country (autonomous community) Renaissance architecture in the Basque Country (autonomous community)