El Palacio de Osuna de Aranjuez
THE ABANDONED CASTLE IN SPAIN
The ‘Palacio de Osuna’ in Aranjuez is a neoclassical building that was built in 1751 for Italian artist Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola Broschi. He was better known under his stage name Farinelli. The palace was built by the architect Giacomo Bonavia who also built the royal palace ‘Palacio Real de Aranjuez’.
Farinelli, born in 1705 and past away in 1782, was a celebrated Italian opera singer. He was the favorite singer of King Philip V and his cultural advisors. Farinelli is widely regarded as the greatest, most accomplished and most respected opera singer of the castrato era, which lasted from the early 1600s into the early 1800s. After he died, the building is bought by the Duke of Osuna. He asks the famous architect Juan de Villanueva, who just finished building the Prado Museum, to expand his palace with a new wing in 1795.
The palace continued in the hands of the dukes until the late nineteenth century, when the XII Duke, had to sell it. The property is divided into two parts, the ground floor is acquired by Juan Richer Turión , during those times mayor of Aranjuez.
In May 2018 there was a huge fire at the abandoned palace. The intense fire caused the roof to collapse. Eight fire crews were trying to prevent the flames spreading to neighbouring properties. The palace itself was lost. The neoclassical building had been valued at 1.5 million euros before the fire. Currently the palace is still on sale in several Russian websites with different prices of more than 3 million euros. These photos of ‘Palacio de Osuna’ were taken in 2012.
