Contreras Palace

We find this striking house-palace just after crossing El Arco de Ayllón. Its Elizabethan façade stands out, as well as its ashlar façade with a Franciscan cord and three coats of arms tilted to the left, belonging to the Contreras family. In Gothic script, on the façade, it reads: "REIGNED IN CASTILLA AND ARAGON THE VERY HIGH PRINCE DON FERNANDO AND DOÑA ISABEL ESTA / HOUSE MANDO HACER EL MUY VIRTUOSO FIJODALGO: JUAN DE CONTRERAS EL AÑO DE MCCCCXCVII" (THE VERY HIGH PRINCE DON FERNANDO AND DOÑA ISABEL THIS / HOUSE MADE BY THE VERY VIRTUOSO FIJODALGO: JUAN DE CONTRERAS THE YEAR OF MCCCCCCXCVII). This fact also gives us a very curious historical fact and is that, contrary to popular belief, it is not known for sure that it belonged at the time to the famous Constable of Castile Don Alvaro de Luna, as there is no data indicating who had possession of the two houses that Juan de Contreras ordered to rebuild in 1497 to give rise to the palace. that we know today and that, in addition to the Contreras family, also belonged, and in the seventeenth century, to the Marquises of Villena. It was declared a national monument and of cultural interest in 1969 and houses in its interior several wooden coffered ceilings, a chapel, a beautiful dining room and many other objects of great artistic and cultural value. However, it is not possible to visit it at present, since it is private property. As a curiosity, this building has its replica in "El Poble Espanyol" in Barcelona.