Palacio de los Milà y Aragó

Situated next to the church, this is without doubt Albaida’s most monumental and emblematic building. The original palace was built atop the Muslim walls dating from the 13th century, and included three of the ancient defence towers: “Poniente”, “Central” and “La Torre Palacial”.Built at the end of the 15th century (1471-1477), it has the appearance of a nobiliary residence. The main entrance to the walled enclosure, the town’s gateway (built in 1460 from limestone, with a semicircular arch and an Arabic tile roof) is attached to the palace. The gateway’s central voussoir still conserves the remains of the shield with arms of the first count of Albaida.In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the old 13th church was demolished due to lack of space. The new church that was to be built required a great deal of land and it was necessary to demolish part of the Palace and some houses.The following years saw works and reforms carried out and a break with the secular isolation. The last notable work, carried out in the 19th nineteenth century, resulted in the current main entrance from the square. With the extracted material, the base of the towers was reinforced. The palace’s façades bear heraldic shields from different periods.In the interior the rooms are decorated with colourful Baroque paintings by the local painter Bertomeu Albert (late 17th century). Of particular relevance are the rooms known as “Trono”; “Música”, “Cristo”, “Blanca” and the Marquis’ bedroom and living room. Albaida’s International Puppet Museum has been installed in the renovated part of the palace, and is accessible from the interior.The palace also houses a large-scale model (scale 1:100, 20 m2) of a detailed and well-documented reconstruction of the 15th century town of Albaida.