Palacio de Viana in Cordoba

The Palacio de Viana is best understood as a stately home that has survived to the present day with its way of life intact, and you notice that from the very first step inside. It stands in the Axerquía district, near the Church of Santa Marina and San Agustín, and it isn't a palace you view from the outside, it's a complex that unfolds as you move through it.

Here the visit moves from patio to patio. The 12 patios are the thread that runs through it all, they're interconnected and lead you through more than 2,000 square metres of open spaces spanning different eras and styles, where the planting changes with the seasons.

The story of the Palacio de Viana begins in 1425, when Ruy Fernández bought a group of stately houses for around 750 gold doubloons. Over time, his descendants and relatives kept expanding it through new acquisitions of spaces, land and properties.

Over the centuries, the estate passed through several hands, including the Villaseca family and the Marquises of Viana of Cordoba, who held it for a little over a century. The big change came in 1980, when the Caja Provincial de Ahorros de Córdoba savings bank bought the palace, which officially opened to the public shortly after, in November 1981.

The 12 interconnected patios are one of the palace's biggest draws. Across their more than 2,000 square metres you'll find patios from different periods and styles, such as the Patio de Recibo, the Patio de los Gatos, the Patio de los Naranjos, the Patio de las Columnas and the Patio de la Capilla, among others. Each one has its own varied planting, which changes depending on the time of year you visit.

Added to the palace in the 19th century at the wish of Diego Rafael Cabrera Fernández de Mesa, the house was extended to include a garden in the French-inspired style fashionable at the time. It has a maze of pathways, 16 box-hedge parterres, a stone fountain at its centre and a wide variety of planting, notably orange trees, palms, lemon trees and a centuries-old Portuguese oak standing nearly 25 metres tall.

Restored and opened to the public in 2019, the stables are one of the most recent areas to be added to the visit. They have three bays separated by arches and Tuscan columns, and highlights on display include a palanquin, a 16th-century saddle and a 19th-century wedding carriage drawn by 7 horses, along with horse harnesses and coachmen's uniforms.

On the lower floor of the Palacio de Viana, reached from the patios and the garden, there's an area designed to display the family's power and status, intended for the important guests who once met with them here. Highlights include a 4th-century AD Roman mosaic found at the Palacio de la Moratalla, and rooms such as the Signing Room, the Display Cabinet Room, which holds a collection of Asian tableware from the Compañía de Indias, and the Tobias Room, with mural paintings depicting Saint Raphael.

Inside, the palace shows a stately home lived in from the 15th century through to the latter half of the 20th century, preserving the original furniture, the rooms used by its former residents and art collections including tapestries, paintings, tiles and leatherwork. These are highly valuable pieces that offer a glimpse into the daily life of the marquises who lived here, brought together between 1870 and 1927 by José Saavedra y Salamanca, second Marquis of Viana.

From September to June, the Palacio de Viana is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00 to 19:00 and Sundays and public holidays from 10:00 to 15:00. It's closed on Mondays.

In July and August, the hours change to Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 to 15:00, and it's also closed on Mondays.

There are several ticket options for visiting the Palacio de Viana, depending on what you want to see.

The self-guided ticket includes the 12 patios, the garden and the institutional areas on the lower floor. It costs €8.50. It's free for people with a disability of 33% or more and for children aged 10 or under.

If you'd rather see the interior with a Spanish-speaking guide, with written translation in English and French, the ticket costs €9.00. It's €7.00 for people with a disability of 33% or more, and free for children aged 10 or under.

There's also a combined interior + patios ticket, priced at €14.00. It's €7.00 for people with a disability of 33% or more, and free for children aged 10 or under.

Tickets can be bought on the monument's official website or at the Palacio de Viana's reception, through the main entrance.

We also run a guided tour of the Palacio de Viana, priced at €33 for adults, €15 for children aged 6 to 10 and €0 for children under 6.

If you fancy a guided tour in Spanish of the Palacio de Viana, our price is €33 for adults, €15 for children aged 6 to 10 and €0 for children under 6. It lasts approximately 1 hour and a half.

The tour is led by an official tourism guide, taking in the patios, garden, institutional areas and stables, while the interior is visited with a guide from the Palacio de Viana itself.

If what you're after is a plan more focused on Cordoba's traditional patios, you can choose the guided tours of Cordoba focused on the city’s traditional patios.

The Palacio de Viana is at Plaza de Don Gome, 2, in the Centro district of Cordoba. It's easy to spot thanks to the façade bearing the family's coat of arms and the large iron gate at the entrance.

Most visitors arrive on foot from the city centre or anywhere in the historic quarter. As traffic is restricted in the area, if you're coming by car it's best to leave it in a nearby car park and walk the last stretch.

If you're using public transport, the closest bus lines to the palace are 1, 2, 4 and 6.

If you'd like to see it with more context, the best way is to book a guided tour of the Palacio de Viana with an official guide.