Phone: 949 370 672

Email: oficinadeturismo@pastrana.org

Website: www.pastrana.org

Type of monument

Civil Architecture

History

Pastrana received its charter thanks to the Orden de Calatrava which this noble municipality received in the 12th century from King Alfonso VIII. This Order built the church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, later the Collegiate Church and an inn.

In 1541 King Carlos I received Papal Bulls necessary to dispose of the property of religious orders and, using this faculty, he sold the Town of Pastrana to the widow of don Diego de Mendoza, permitting her to build a fortified house, currently the Palacio Ducal. On her death the domain was left to her children, who received the titles of the Dukes of Pastrana and Princes of Éboli from the King.

Art style

Renaissance style.

Special trips

Among Pastrana's highlights we find: the Ducal Palace, its Collegiate Church, the convents founded by Saint Teresa, and the mementos, sculptures and documents about the Saint that can be admired in the Theresian Museum.

How to get there

Road transport

Its highlights are the towers, portal, columns, lintel and coat of arms steeped in history, as it was in this palace that the famous Princess of Éboli, lived, and in whose Cámara de la Reja Dorada (Golden Barred Chamber) she was later imprisoned.

The legend states that she could only stand for an hour every date at the beautiful grille of the eastern tower of the palace, from where one can see the main square, which is why it is known as the “Square of the Hour”. The remains of the Princess rest in the crypt of the Collegiate Church.

With the first dukes came Pastrana’s hours of splendour, as they spent vast sums of money to build the Collegiate Church. They brought Moriscos from Granada to work with silk and Saint Teresa founded two Carmelite convents in 1569.

But after the Duke’s death in 1573, his widow, the Princess of Éboli, began a restless life, which obliged Saint Teresa to remove the nuns, whilst her intrigues at Court with Antonio Pérez caused her imprisonment in her own palace, which she did not leave until her death, being interred in the Crypt of the Collegiate Church.

Further Dukes followed, and when they moved their residence to Madrid in the 18th century, Pastrana returned to its rural roots.

Today, Pastrana preserves its picturesque design and the art that dates from its grandiose past.

Timetables

The Palace may be visited either on a guided tour, which is carried out in groups, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, or independently. It is open every day, except Mondays, from 10am to 2pm and Tuesdays to Fridays from 5pm to 7pm.