Palace of La Rañada

The Palace of Juan Cuesta Mercadillo was founded in the neighborhood of La Rañada, in Liérganes, in 1718. It is built on the family’s ancient manor house, which dated from mid 16th c. It is characterized by the closed aspect of the complex around a closed courtyard with a U-shaped floor plan related to the Medieval typology of the palatium, a room where income and goods from feudal rights could be collected.

The central body has a two storey facade in good ashlar masonry: the ground floor is open with three arches, the superior one with three small symmetrical spans to the arches. The two wings have different functions, the northern one as bedroom and the southern one as a chapel  dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe. Unusually this chapel has it’s entrance door in the outer enclosure of the palace as it was used for both private and public devotions.