On your left, you will spot the Almudí Palace, a sturdy pale stone building defined by a massive arched wooden doorway beneath elaborately carved coats of arms. Today it is a peaceful archive and art gallery, but its history is remarkably volatile.
Back in fifteen fifty-four, the city council decided to build a municipal wheat granary here. They chose a very interesting spot... right next to the city's gunpowder store. Naturally, one night in sixteen twelve, lightning struck the gunpowder. The resulting explosion was spectacular, and the granary burned completely to the ground. They rebuilt it bigger and better by sixteen twenty-eight, funding the impressive stonework you see now with money from Murcia's booming silk trade.
If you glance at your screen, you can see a close up of the entrance. That massive carving in the center is the royal crest of the Habsburg dynasty, the family ruling Spain at the time. It is flanked by two smaller shields of Murcia, sporting just six crowns, which tells us this was carved before King Philip the Fifth added a seventh crown later on.
Now, look at your app one more time to see a fascinating survivor from the original building. This is the Matron of Murcia, a stone relief carved in fifteen seventy-five. She is depicted breastfeeding a stranger's child... a symbol of the city's legendary hospitality. And above her sits a pelican, which in classical art represents abundance and self-sacrifice.
As an engineering nerd, my favorite detail is actually inside. The architects needed to support the massive weight of all that stored grain, so they filled the interior with towering Tuscan columns... thick, unornamented pillars built for pure strength. Even better, they used a surviving stretch of the city's ancient Arab defensive wall as a load-bearing foundation. That is what I call practical recycling.
If you want to see those columns, the building is open Tuesday through Saturday from ten A-M to two P-M, and again from five to eight P-M.
It is a beautiful piece of civic architecture with a truly explosive past. Enjoy the details, and when you are ready, let us press on.
