Sunday 23 March 2014

El Patio de la Infanta

Hidden in a modern glass office building is one of Zaragoza´s Rennaissance treasures, the Patio de la Infanta.
Dated at 1550, it was the inside patio of the mansión of Gabriel Zaporta who was an important businessman of Jewish origin. The infant in question was the widowed sister-in-law of King Carlos III,  María Teresa de Vallabriga, who returned to live as a widow in Zaragoza from 1785 onwards in the Zaporta mansion.
The mansion wasn’t originally where the patio is now. After several fires it was knocked down in 1903. Only the door and the patio were saved. They were acquired by a French antiquarian who took them to Paris and made a shop in them. Ibercaja savings bank bought the patio back in 1957, but it wasn’t until 1980 that it was installed in the modern building of the bank.

It’s amazing! Open to the public. A few years ago they installed an organ which had been rescued and restored, and they hold concerts there; the patio has been enclosed with a glass roof, and there are tapestries lining the outer walls. 



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