The palace of Villajoyosa.

In this week's article we are going to talk about a palace with an Arab style, built in Villajoyosa, the municipality of the Valencian Community. The building to which we refer is located next to the sea and near a cliff, it is the Villa Giacomina, an old palace with very remarkable features that is currently in a very deplorable state.

Architectural style and history:
Villajoyosa Palace dates from the twentieth century, its horseshoe arches refer us to a historicist style, developed in the nineteenth century and continued during the twentieth, and even today buildings are built in this trend. This style, is based on building buildings of ancient characters from all periods of history, as for example would be the Gothic. Make no mistake, this architecture is not fully Gothic, since it is outside the constructions of the Middle Ages. This palace turns out to be a copy of different styles like the Arab (by the arches of the horseshoe) or the Gothic (we can observe in its main courtyard elements of this style). The art of these characteristics, which tends to imitate and mix different currents, also continues today, for example, in theme parks. If we travel to Terra Mitica, we will see Greek and Roman buildings, but these buildings were not built by the ancients, but are merely copies.

What makes this dificio special, is its relationship with Freemasonry. This bond is produced by having elements that unite it with the three main religions of the West (Jewish, Christian and Muslim). The owner of the palace, Alfonso Esquerdo (doctor and freemason), built this building on land inherited from his uncle, José María Esquerdo, also a freemason, as well as leader of a republican party and one of the pioneers of psychiatry in Spain . The doctor called this place Villa Giacomina, as this is the name of his wife.

The building has had many uses throughout history, in this sense, being its medical owner, he assigned it to psychiatric sanatorium, to pass after his death to other owners, so that, after the civil war settled here the Swedish-Norwegian Hospital of Alcoy and later the Italian Littorio division, formed by Italian fascists who supported the rising side during the Spanish Civil War.

 

Freemasonry:

It is a secret and elitist society, since traditionally they have only been part of it, intellectuals and very powerful men who act in the shade. In its origin, it was a society of bricklayers, but little by little other actors were introduced until they became an elitist group. This structure, like other political groups, has a series of symbols that identify it, such as the pyramid with the eye and the square and the compass. Also, we must point out that its secrecy and its facility for conspiracy, has made Freemasons behind numerous events in history, especially the French Revolution and the independence of the United States. UU To conclude, we must mention that this special character and its features, have made it banned by different governments throughout history, being persecuted and banned by both fascist and communist regimes, as well as by all kinds of dictatorships.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that, next to the palace, we can also find other elements such as a tower, which although it seems built to protect against Berber pirates, was built by the doctor himself to use as a library and also the sanctuary of Malladeta, one of the most important Iberian sites.