Palacio del Marqués de Santa Cruz, Renaissance palace in Viso del Marqués, Spain.

The Palacio del Marqués de Santa Cruz is a square-plan Renaissance palace built between 1564 and 1586, its smooth walls and square corner towers recalling El Escorial. Inside, a porticoed courtyard and a Mannerist staircase lead to rooms whose walls and ceilings carry some 8,000 square metres of frescoes by the Peroli workshop.

Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz, commissioned the palace, with work beginning on 15 November 1564 and continuing until 1586. He chose Viso del Marqués because it lay halfway between Madrid, seat of the court, and Seville, where the Spanish Navy anchored. In 1931 it was declared a national historic-artistic monument, and since 1948 the Santa Cruz family has rented it to the Spanish Navy, which installed the General Archive of the Navy.

The 8,000 square metres of Mannerist frescoes were painted by Giovanni Battista Peroli with Esteban Peroli and César de Bellis. They show naval battles, Italian cities and ports, and the marquis's ancestors painted as gods. Above the upper-floor doors hang the stern lanterns of defeated flagship vessels, kept as naval trophies.

The building currently serves as the home of the Spanish Navy's General Naval Archive, housing historical documents from several centuries. Visitors should check opening hours and access requirements before visiting, as it remains an active archive facility.

The palace has been rented to the Spanish Navy since 1948, when Casilda de Silva, a descendant of Álvaro de Bazán, leased it for 90 years at the request of Julio Guillén Tato, director of the Naval Museum. The crocodile hung in the neighbouring parish church was offered by the marquis as an ex-voto after one of his voyages.