Significance The building of the former University of Osuna is significant both architecturally and for its long history as a seat of the university from its construction in 1548 to its closure in 1824. Its construction was ordered by Don Juan Téllez Girón, founder of the university. The First Duke of Osuna was responsible for numerous buildings in his domain, nearly all of a religious character. The university building is, therefore, particularly notable as an essentially civil building devoted to education. The buildings erected under the patronage of the First Duke of Osuna are important primarily because of the adoption and diffusion of new stylistic currents and ideas from the
Italian architecture of the time. The
Renaissance aspects of the buildings are patent, as is the relation to the
ideology of
humanism in a building expressly created as a center for modern education. The surviving university building testifies to the Renaissance aesthetics, providing one of the most singular and defining architectural examples of Osuna's past greatness.
Exterior The former University of Osuna is a rectangular two-story building organized around a square courtyard. Its architectural design is characterized by simplicity and severity of its straight lines. Its unique profile, having a tower at each of its four corners, each tower topped by a spire with a glazed ceramic coating, makes it one of the most emblematic buildings of the city. The four exterior walls are of stone. Several rectangular
linteled openings are placed symmetrically. The towers at the two corners in front are cylindrical. The cylinders each extend a full story above the building, and then are covered by polygonal spires. The other two towers, in the rear, are square, in the style of
buttresses; they extend to the same height as those in front, and their spires are pyramidal. The glazed ceramic coatings of the spires is in blue and white. The principal façade faces southeast, and is ornamented
ashlar stonework. On the right half of the upper story are two linteled window bays, flanked by half-columns, with a
pediment above. The principal entrance, which gives access to the interior, is to the left of center. For roughly two thirds of its height, the door is flanked by columns, over which there is a semicircular arch. That entire assemblage is finished at the outer edge with molding, flanked on both sides by attached columns on a high base, over which is an
entablature with pinnacles on either end. On the second story over the entrance is a niche with a statue of the
Virgin Mary holding the baby
Jesus. This, in turn, is flanked with columns and pinnacles, a miniature of the entrance below; a
tondo above shows the anagram of the Virgin. Over this all, another semicircular arch is worked into the façade. There in another window bay in the upper story to the left of the entrance, similar to the two bays on the right. There are four smaller windows on the upper part of the ground floor.
Interior In the interior, most of the original rooms have been adapted and transformed into modern classrooms devoid of any artistic and architectural interest. However, the southeast side of the building, where the main entrance is located, retains its original structure, as do the gateway, the chapel, the Sala de la Girona ("Hall of Girona"), the central courtyard, the staircase leading upstairs and the old library.
Vestibule One enters through the principal doorway to a rectangular vestibule or hall with a carved ceiling with two orders of beams on
corbels, decorated with inlay work. This space opens on the right to the chapel, straight ahead to the central courtyard, and on the left to the Sala de la Girona.
Chapel The chapel is rectangular, again with a carved ceiling with two orders of beams in the
Plateresque style. Immediately above the entry is the choir loft, whose carved ceiling has a single order of beams. The center of this ceiling is decorated with Plateresque motifs alternating with tracery and pineapples. Over this ceiling is the rostrum of the upper choir, composed of a sill of wooden balusters. The
presbytery is raised above the rest of the chapel and at its head sits a neoclassical altarpiece with paintings that date back to a former Renaissance altarpiece. It is separated from the nave by a bay, which is segmented by a 16th-century wrought-iron grating composed of two horizontal bands that divide the two areas. These bands have Renaissance-era decoration with a motif of flaming golden scrolls. Between the two bands are bent vertical bars that—in the lower central area—open to provide access to the chapel. At the top of the grating is a crest composed of semicircles made of bent bars, pointed and crowned with heraldic motifs, configured as an entablature. The
pulpit, made of wood, is on the left wall of the chapel. It consists of an access staircase with a sill of balustrades, a rectangular floor affixed to the wall like a balcony, and a semicircular bay embedded in the wall, under a triangular pediment topped with a cross.
Sala de la Girona The Sala de la Girona is roughly rectangular, with a carved ceiling with two orders of beams over corbels. The upper part of its cladding is covered with murals painted in the second half of the 16th century. In the front end wall is a mural of the Virgin Mary enthroned with the baby Jesus on her lap; on both sides are groups of angels who giving him presents, as well as symbols related to the iconology of the Virgin. The composition is framed between drapes held back by angels, revealing an architectural background. On the right wall the four church fathers are represented, each seated on a chair and surrounded by books scattered on the ground. From left to right they are
Saint Jerome,
Saint Gregory,
Saint Ambrose and
Saint Augustine, dressed according to the traditional iconography of these saints, each holding a staffs and a model of the church in one hand while the other shows the pen as a symbol of scripture. The composition is completed with architectural backgrounds and at the bottom with the names of each character written in classical characters on
phylacteries. The mural on the wall facing the one previously described represents the
Four Evangelists seated on a marble bench. From left to right are
Saint Mark,
Saint Luke,
Saint John and
Saint Matthew, each of them with his symbol. The last of the murals is on the front door. It presents a courtly scene in an imaginary rural landscape. A palatial building is surrounded by large trees and a river. The most prominent focus is a
hunting scene of galloping horsemen, but there are also shepherds and dogs caring for their herd. Analysis of the forms and the garments of the characters indicate has shown that the work dates from the early 18th century.
Courtyard or patio The central courtyard () is rectangular, two stories high, with a double arcade on all four sides. The lower floor features marble columns of the
Tuscan order, supporting paired, symmetrical semicircular bays. Above the columns are located small pillars that, at their connection to the entablature, form an
alfiz, a type of arch characteristic of
Morisco architecture. The upper galleries are composed of columns on high
plinths, supporting semicircular bays, paired and covered with iron railings. In the center of the courtyard stands a well with a stone curb. The staircase rises from the southeast side of the courtyard. Three flights of stairs occupy a rectangular space. The stairs are covered by a
barrel vault whose cladding is decorated with octagonal
coffers.
Library The former library—as of 2004 an assembly hall—sits over the chapel and the principal entrance. It is reached through the gallery of the courtyard, at the top of the staircase. It is rectangular, covered with very elongated trough-shaped armature. ==Paintings==