Beautiful Palace of Palacio de Liria is located in Madrid Princess street. It is a large building, surrounded by a magnificent garden, is the family seat of the Dukes of Alba.

The Palace was built by order of Duke Bellinzago, the illegitimate son of the former English king James II and who served the Spanish crown. The project was made by architect Ventura rodríguez and A. Gilbert. The Palace was built in neoclassical style according to the principle of Italian and French palaces. Lush greenery surrounding the Palace garden is practically not possible to treat it from over the fence.

The Palace of Palacio de Liria is a repository of amazing works of art. Here is the collection of tapestries and a collection of paintings that include works by such great masters as Titian, Rembrandt, Goya, Velasquez, El Greco, Durer, van Dyck and others.

During the Spanish Civil war the Palace was seriously damaged, in fact, survived only its facade. The Alba family during this time was in London. Fortunately, before his departure they gave their own masterpieces to be deposited in the Bank of Spain and the British Embassy. Due to the fact that the paintings were kept in metal boxes, the collection was saved. Sorry, unable to save the magnificent collection of engravings, which were completely destroyed.

A few years after the war, in 1948, the young Duchess of Alba has restored the Palace, fulfilling the promise given to his father. The interiors of the Palace were completely rebuilt in accordance with the new project, and all works of art distributed by thematic halls – so, in the Palace halls there of the Italian, Flemish, Spanish, Dutch painting.