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Mira cómo se ven en 3D sus 3 referencias monumentales
The Plaza de España, which is currently the nerve centre of the town, was once the parade ground of the county palace. It is bounded by the buildings of the Collegiate Church, the Palace and the Granary or Alfolí, a building for the storage of grain erected between the 17th and 18th centuries, which conserves stylistic elements of the Baroque style on its façade.
The origins of the town of Olivares date back to Roman times, when, after the conquest of Baetica by a Roman soldier called Turculus, the land now occupied by the town was converted over time into a settlement known as Estercolines or Estercolinas.
Built in the second half of the 16th century by Don Pedro de Guzmán, 1st Count of Olivares, it was enriched in the 17th century by Don Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, Count Duke of Olivares. Residence of the Counts of Olivares, it would later also be the residence of the abbots and canons of the Collegiate Church. In Renaissance style and symmetrical composition, it is flanked by two pointed arches crowned by battlements with bas-relief decorations. It also has four towers that slightly advance towards the square with pyramidal finials. The main doorway has slender half-columns of Genoese marble on a jamb, while the central doorway has the coat of arms of the Casa de los Guzmanes, in Genoese marble, which represents two harpies holding the coat of arms, topped by a winged dragon. Currently the seat of the Town Hall, it offers a permanent exhibition of handcrafted reproductions of Baroque period costumes.
The second Count of Olivares, Enrique de Guzmán y Ribera, was responsible for founding the Chapel of Olivares. Between 1582 and 1591, Don Enrique held one of the most important posts of his time, the Spanish embassy in Rome; he dealt with three pontiffs, Gregory XIII, Sixtus V and Gregory XIV, the first of whom approved the foundation of the Chapel of Olivares and the second of whom granted him important bulls that granted the Chapel notable privileges.
The third Count of Olivares, Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, who has gone down in Spanish history for having been the favourite of King Philip IV on inheriting the House of Olivares, made clear his intention to raise the status of the chapel that had been founded by his father, and thus proposed the erection of the church as a collegiate church, a mercy he finally obtained from Pope Urbanc Vill by bull issued on 1 March 1623, although these bulls did not reach Spain until 1625.
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