In 1492 the governor of the King, Pedro Enriquez and his wife Catalina de Ribera started the construction of their palace in Seville. It was finished by their son Fabrique, the first Marques de Tarifa. Fabrique went as a pilgrim to Jerusalem between 1519 and 1521 and found out that his palace in Seville had the same distance from the Church Cruz del Campo as the distance between the house of Pilate from Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified. He decided to construct fourteen stations of the cross, with the first one in front of his palace. He passed by Genoa on his way back to Seville and was impressed by the architecture and decoration of the palaces there. So he ordered a marble entrance in Genoa for the entrance to his palace in Seville. The palace combines the Gothic, Mudejar, and Plateresque styles. Today the owner of the palace is the Duchess of Medinaceli. The Dukes of Medinaceli were some of the most important and prominent members of the nobility, with huge lands in Andalusia.
Part of the palace is a museum and is open to the public. There is a separate wing where the present Duchess lives, with her descendants and family. The palace has many gardens, patios, fountains, and salons. The patios contain many Roman statues. Everywhere on the first floor one will find Roman mosaic floors. The walls are covered with beautiful ceramic tile in many different Mudejar styles.
The principal patio has an arcade of two floors, and the style mixes Arab, Renaissance, and classic elements. There are marble columns that support the arcades and the second floor balustrade has a filigree design. The first floor has beautiful ceramic tiles that go up to a height of 4 meters. The center of the patio has a marble fountain that also came from Genoa, and it incorporates a column with dolphin designs. On top of the fountain there is a head of Janus that shows his two faces. Each of the four corners of the patio has a Roman statue of a goddess in marble. There are wall niches which have sculptures of the Roman emperors, Cicero, and the Emperor Carlos V.
There is a very impressive staircase leading to the second floor. The ceiling is very high and is Mudejar. All the walls are covered with ceramic tile. There are many rooms on the second floor where the family used to live. The rooms have many important paintings, portraits done by Goya, Carreño, Pantoja de la Cruz, Sebastian del Piombo, Lucas Jordan, Pacheco, and Batalloli. There is a lot of historic furniture also. Every time one looks out the windows, one can see a patio downstairs, so this palace has more light than most.
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