Palacio de las Dueñas

Palacio de las Dueñas
Location within Seville
General information
Architectural style	Renaissance, Gothic, Moorish
Location	Seville, Spain
Coordinates	37°23′41″N 5°59′21″W / 37.39472°N 5.98917°W / 37.39472; -5.98917
Construction started	Late 14th century
Owner	House of Alba

Palacio de las Dueñas (more properly, Palace of the Dukes of Alba; occasionally, Palacio de las Pinedas) is a palace in Seville, Spain, currently belonging to the House of Alba. It was built in the late 15th century in the Renaissance style with Gothic and Moorish influences. The palace is one of the major historic homes in the city of great architectural and artistic heritage. The poet Antonio Machado was born here, as were Carlos Falcó, Marqués de Griñón and Marqués de Castelmoncayo. On October 5, 2011 Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba married here. It became a national monument, now a "Bien de Interés Cultural", on June 3, 1931. It is open to the public by appointment.

The palace was constructed in the late 15th century, a time associated with a robust economy in the area, which included the construction of the Alcazar Real and the Casa de Pilatos. It was built by the Pineda family, Lords of Casabermeja. In 1496, Pedro Pineda, Mayor of the city council and his wife, Doña Maria de Monsalve, sold their home to Doña Catalina de Ribera, widow of Governor Don Pedro Enriquez, to raise ransom money to retrieve Don Juan de Pineda, taken prisoner by the Moors. Thereafter, a series of expansions occurred, later forming a Renaissance palace under the auspices of Fernando Enrique de Ribera y Quinones and especially his widow Doña Inés Portocarrero y Cardenas (great-great-grandmother of Ana de Velasco y Girón).

The building became the property of the House of Alba after the marriage of the 5th Marchioness of Villanueva del Río with the 4th Duke of Alba. For a time, it was the residence of Lord Holland, an ardent admirer of Spanish literature, and the author (1805) of a memoir on Lope de Vega and Guillen de Castro. Machado lived in the palace during his early childhood, his father serving as the Duke of Alba's caretaker. The palace name derives from the monastery of Santa María de las Dueñas, which in 1248 was known to house nuns and servants of Saint Ferdinand and Alfonso X the Wise. The monastery was in the palace's periphery and was destroyed in 1868. The palace underwent significant renovation in the 18th and 19th centuries.