1 April 2009
Global Seminars & Invited Speaker Series
STATELY HOMES AND PALACES OF NAVARRA
The Provincial Council Palace and its decorative programme
D. Ignacio J. Urricelqui Pacho
Chair of Navarrese Heritage and Art
The Palacio de la Diputación is, without doubt, the most important civil architecture built in Navarre in the 19th century and one of Pamplona's emblematic buildings, whose typology coincides with others in Spain, with the Palacio de Congresos in Madrid as a point of reference reference letter.
After centuries of travelling around different sites in Pamplona, work began in 1840, using the former site of the convent of Carmelitas Calzadas, which had been exclaustrated in 1836 as a result of Mendizábal's confiscation. Overcoming the initial reluctance of the War Department, which requested the site and the materials for military use, the Queen Regent granted licence to the Provincial Council, which commissioned the Bilbao-born José de Nagusia to draw up the plans and direct the works. The work was conditioned by the classicist aesthetics of the nearby Teatro Principal, with plans by Ugartemendía, whose erection had been directed by Nagusia himself shortly before. The works were carried out until 1851, and the corporation was able to meet for the first time in the new building in December of that year. The building, which has two central courtyards of different sizes, is noteworthy for the solemnity of its elevation, especially the main façade that opens onto the current Paseo Sarasate, which has a central body with a lower gallery, like a colonnade, which supports a hexastyle portico of classical order topped with a triangular pediment.
Over the years, the building of the file de Navarra was added to the Palace on the south side, with plans by Florencio Ansoleaga, presented in 1887. In the 1930s, as a result of the urban planning of the second Ensanche and the concession to the Diputación of a plot of land next to the Palace, the extension was carried out by the brothers Javier and José Yárnoz, which was developed along the new Avenida Carlos III el Noble, following a similar aesthetic to that of the existing palace in terms of elevation and the use of a classicist language.
Main façade of the Palace of Navarre (1840-1851),
and sculptural decoration by Fructuoso Orduna (1951)
Yárnoz Bros. Façade of Avda. Carlos III (1932-1935)
visit With regard to the decoration, and focusing attention on the decorative programmes, the Throne Room stands out, a space that had been left "blank" in 1851 and whose ornamentation was undertaken in 1860 on the occasion of the advertisement of Isabella II's visit to Pamplona, as a stopover on a trip around Spain planned for September and October of that year. Although the visit did not take place in the end, the works continued. As early as the 1850s, Miguel Martín Azparren, an artist from Navarre of uncertain biography, trained in Rome and Paris, had presented a decorative project to the Diputación consisting of paintings with episodes and portraits of kings from the history of Navarre. However, the corporation asked Maximiano Hijón to compose the new project , which was inspired by "the art of the age average in the best period of its renaissance, as it was the most B important in the history of the country, and the idea behind the composition was that the most notable historical memories of the ancient Kingdom of Navarre should be represented there".
The final ensemble, largely due to foreign artists and craftsmen, stands out for its chromatic splendour in the furniture, upholstery and polychromy, with the paintings, organised in three places, standing out in particular: the ceiling, where Azparren composed an allegory of Navarre accompanied by four Virtues (Justice, Prudence, Temperance and Fortitude) in a language with a Nazarene flavour; the gallery of portraits of the kings of Navarre from García Jiménez (8th century) to Charles III the Noble (15th century); and the ten paintings of historical themes narrating the origin of the Kingdom, with the rise of the first king of Navarre on the pavés; events of arms (battles of Roncesvalles, Olast, and Navas de Tolosa), episodes dedicated to monarchs such as Sancho the Great (payment of the tribute of the Moorish king, and distribution of the kingdom among his sons); Charles II (release from prison) and Charles III (Privilege of the Union), as well as two more canvases with the invention of the body of San Fermín in Amiens, and a session of the Cortes of Navarre in the conference room Preciosa of Pamplona Cathedral. Both the portraits of the kings and the historical scenes were painted by foreign artists - Alejandro Ferrant, Joaquín Espalter, Francisco Aznar, Constancio López Corona and Francisco Mendoza - and helped to bring the Navarrese capital up to date with national and international trends.
In addition to this programme, those carried out in the 20th century also stand out. Specifically, the decoration of the Salón de Sesiones between 1935 and 1936, by Gustavo de Maeztu; and the sculptural ornamentation of the exterior façades, with works by Fructuoso Orduna: the one on Avenida Carlos III, between 1932 and 1934, with a sculptural group on the tympanum with motifs alluding to the sciences, arts and industry of the province; and the one on Paseo Sarasate, in 1951, with two male figures holding the coat of arms of Navarre on the pediment, and the bronze sculptures, in niches, of Sancho the Great and Sancho the Strong.
Maximiano Hijón. project decorative Throne Room (1861)