Palace of the Countess Lebrija

This palace was built in the 16th century, rather than the 14th century, and there is spectacular tile work represented throughout the building.  There are literally dozens of different examples of the tile mastery that was available in southern Spain at that time.  I went to a museum exhibit of 16th century tile that was substantially less impressive than walking through this palace (which is gorgeous architecturally as well--you do not have to be a tile aficionado to  find this place fascinating).  Every wall of every hallway and every room has tile, and just when you think that you have seen them all, you find yet another new example. 

 In 1901, the Countess of Lebrija bought the palace and began extensive renovations that would end in 1914. She was an avid collector and traveller. In fact, she was passionate about archeology and the first woman to be accepted at the Fine Arts Academy of Saint Elisabeth of Hungary (founded in 1660).

Her collection incorporates many Roman mosaics found in Italica (currently Santiponce, 7km from Seville), Mudejar elements from the Arab invasion, traditional Andalusian tiles and even parts of an old convent.

The Countess actually rescued a big part of the Roman city Italica that had been sacked for two centuries. The biggest and best restored mosaic is the one in the main patio, the design of which relates to the god Pan. Apart from the mosaics, the lower floor rooms display some Etruscan and Roman ceramics, marble statues, antique jewels and military awards. The tiles decorating a few rooms, the main patio and the staircase are very beautiful and the palace entrance is quite spectacular because of the bright ceramics covering it and the iron gate.

This is a really lovely place to visit and it is off the tourist radar, so very uncrowded.