Two Late Baroque Palaces in Morocco: The Spain Legations in Larache and Tangier.

Abstract

An interesting and unknown chapter of the persistence of the baroque style in the Spanish architecture of the XVIII century can be found in Larache and Tangier (Morocco). The king Carlos III ordered the construction of two buildings, which were used like residence of the diplomatic legation to maintain the relationship with the sultan. They still retain a certain mannerist features, although they are situated chronologically in the later baroque. The projects were realized by the architects Juan Fernández and Francisco Pérez Arroyo, who carried out some programmes which took into account the diplomatic representation for which they had been destined. The historical vicissitudes and the changes of theirs use have marked the transformation of these two palaces which survive nowadays although they are completely unknown for us, in spite of the main rol they played for a long time.