BRIEF HISTORY OF LAS DUEÑAS
Built between the 15th and 16th centuries, Las Dueñas was named after the currently dissapeared monastery of Santa María de las Dueñas, placed in the adjoining plot and demolished in 1868. Its Origin was the Place-house of the Pineda, lords of Casa Bermeja, one of the dynasties of the patricians of Sevilla. In the following decades, the Palace was inherited by Fernando Enríquez de Ribera, II marquis of Villanueva del Río. His daugther, Antonia Enríquez de Ribera, got married in 1612 with Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, future Duke of Alba. Since then, Las Dueñas belongs to Casa de Alba.
In the XIX Century, Dueñas became a guesthouse, dividing its rooms and halls with walls and covering the coffered ceiling. One of the guest, and property administrator of Las Dueñas, was Antonio Machado Álvarez father of the famous poet Antonio Machado, who was born in Las Dueñas in 1875. Machado remembers in the following verses the eight years of his childhood , when he lived in Las Dueñas:
“Mi infancia son recuerdos de un patio de Sevilla
y un huerto claro donde madura el limonero…”
(Campos De Castilla,1912)
"Es esta luz de Sevilla... Es el palacio donde nací,
con su rumor de fuente“
(Nuevas Canciones, 1924)
Photo Mrs. Cayetana, Jacqueline Kennedy and Aline Griffith, in Sevile, 1966.
Photo: The Queen Victoria Eugenia (left.) and the Empress Eugenia de Montijo walking along the gardens of Las Dueñas, in about 1920 .EFE/Files (CLICK TO ENLARGE)
In the 20th Century Las Dueñas has been meeting point for members of the European royal families and international personalities of the culture, politics and art. Distinguished people such as the Empress Eugenia de Montijo, Lord Holland, Eduardo VIII and his bother Jorge VI, Alfonso XIII, Jacqueline Kennedy, Wallis Simpson, Grace Kelly and her husband Rainiero de Mónaco, among others.
Photo: Commemorative plate for the birth of the poet Antonio Machado, placed in the front entrance of Las Dueñas.