The Palacio de Linares rose from one of Madrid’s most coveted plots in the early 1870s — five stories of limestone at the Plaza de Cibeles, gilded ballrooms, a private chapel, stained glass from Belgium. The Marqués de Linares had it built for his wife Raimunda, sparing nothing. It was a monument to devotion. It was only later, while settling his father Mateo’s estate, that José found the letter.
The documentation revealed what Mateo had concealed his entire adult life: he had fathered an illegitimate daughter with a working-class woman in Madrid. Her name was Raimunda. José’s wife. His half-sister. What followed consumed both of them. They reportedly sought religious counsel. The details blurred over time, passed through servants and newspaper archives, but the core never changed: the Marqués and Marquesa lived out their years in a palace built on a revelation neither had asked for.
In 1989, renovation workers — tradesmen who knew the sounds old buildings made — began reporting things they could not explain. Guards described footsteps and shadows in rooms they had just cleared. A woman arrived with recording equipment claiming to channel a spirit; her recordings were debunked. But the workers’ reports had preceded her by months, and the guards had nothing to gain. Since 1992, the palace has operated as the Casa de América, its gilded rooms hosting films, exhibitions, and diplomatic events. The footsteps, according to staff, continue.
Story Source: www.casamerica.es
Address: Plaza de Cibeles, 2, 28014 Madrid, Spain
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