Castillos de Valderas y Museo de Arte en Vidrio de Alcorcón, Art museum in Alcorcón, Spain
The Castillos de Valderas complex in Alcorcón's San José de Valderas park consists of two surviving palaces built in 1917 by architect Luis Sainz de los Terreros for the Marquis of Valderas. The main Saxon-style palace, now the Museo de Arte en Vidrio de Alcorcón (MAVA), opened as a museum in 1997 and covers 2,000 square metres. A smaller service building hosts cultural workshops; a third palace was demolished during the 1991 restoration.
Around 1916 José Sanchiz de Quesada, Marquis of Valderas, bought land near his artillery regiment at Cuatro Vientos and commissioned architect Luis Sainz de los Terreros to build a Saxon-style palace, inaugurated in 1917, with a private chapel dedicated to San José and a servants' building. Abandoned during the Civil War, it housed a rebel first-line headquarters from November 1936. The municipality acquired the ruin in 1988 and restored it; since 1997 the main palace holds the glass museum.
The main palace has housed the Museo de Arte en Vidrio de Alcorcón (MAVA) since 1997, showing contemporary works made wholly or partly of glass by international artists. The smaller service building hosts courses, workshops and seminars run by the Concejalía de Cultura y Participación. The complex is named after the Marquis of Valderas, who built it around 1916–1917.
The park is bounded by Calle de los Lirios and the Avenidas de la Libertad and de los Castillos, in the San José de Valderas neighbourhood. It lies about a 9-minute walk from Joaquín Vilumbrales metro station and 13 minutes from San José de Valderas Cercanías; buses 2, 450, 514 and 560 also serve it. The glass museum occupies the main palace, while the smaller service building hosts courses and workshops.
The main palace, inaugurated in 1917, served from 4 November 1936 as a first-line headquarters for the rebel side, close to the Carabanchel camp; it had a radio station run by Gregorio Marañón's son, and Francisco Franco and Emilio Mola stayed there during the offensives on Madrid.
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