San Telmo Palace

On March 10, 1682, the building’s construction began on land located outside the city, which was the property of the Court of the Inquisition, to erect the headquarters of the Universidad de Mercaderes, an institution that housed and educated the orphans of sailors, later becoming the Colegio de la Marian. Famous Poet Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer enrolled in 1846. In 1847, it ceased its education functions and continued to be put into service for a variety of uses, being the headquarters of the Railroad Society or the Universidad Literaria, being underutilized and with constant work stoppages. In 1849, it was acquired by Antonio de Orleans and Luisa Fernanda de Borbón, Dukes of Montpensier, who made it their official residence. The palace’s main hall was where, on December 12, 1877, José Isidro Osorio y Silva-Bazán asked for their daughter María de las Mercedes de Orleans’ hand in marriage, on behalf of the Duke of Sesto, Marquis de la Frontera, in the name of Alfonso XII of Spain, through a handwritten letter from the king. In 1901, under Marcelo Spínola, archbishop of the city, the Palace became a seminary. In 1989, it was ceded by the archbishop of Seville to the Junta de Andalusia. A second phase of the restorations began in 2005, focusing on rescuing the original structure and details of the building’s interior, which had been subjected to multiple interventions that had distorted its original look. The project was led by Sevillian architect Guillermo Vázquez Consuegra.