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The Vazquez de Molina Palace, also known as the Palace of the Chains is a renaissance palace in Úbeda (Jaén). It is considered to be one of the best examples of the Renaissance architecture in Spain.
The palace was built by Juan Vazquez de Molina, nephew of Francisco de los Cobos, and secretary of State for Philip II. The project was given to Andrés de Vandelvira who built it between 1546 and 1565.
After the death of the owner the palace became a convent of Dominican nuns, and was remodeled to accommodate the religious community. The mural paintings in the former chapter house can still be seen.
In 1837, after the Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizábal, the building became the City hall.
The palace was designed as a quadrilateral with a two-storey courtyard. The façade has three storeys and is divided into seven vertical sections of different widths.
Architectural features of the main facade include the central portal, the triangular pediments that cap the windows of the main floor, the oval bull's-eye windows (porthole) and caryatids of the second floor, the projecting cornice and the lanterns placed at the corners of the roof.
References:The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire Valley in France. Le Lude is the most northerly château of the Loire Valley and one of the last important historic castles in France, still inhabited by the same family for the last 260 years. The château is testimony to four centuries of French architecture, as a stronghold transformed into an elegant house during the Renaissance and the 18th century. The monument is located in the valley of Le Loir. Its gardens have evolved throughout the centuries.
