Welcome to Madrid

This building was the headquarters of the Supreme Council of the Inquisition in the late 18th Century. Following the disappearance of the Inquisition in the early 19th Century, the building was abandoned for a while and then went on to house several government departments, including the Ministry of Development. In 1894, it was bought by the Madres Reparadoras congregation.

In 1792, an initial project was drawn up by Ventura Rodríguez, but it would appear that a lack of funds and the need to build quickly led the commission to be awarded to his student Mateo Guill who, without abandoning the stylistic premises of the previous project, created another smaller edifice, conserving part of the previous buildings. For this reason, only the facade on Calle de Torija has the adequate monumental scale, and the lateral walls are the start of what could have been a more homogeneous work.

In spite of its classicist simplicity, it produces a visual impact on the surroundings. The magnificent central doorway is capped by a balcony framed by columns and crowned by the Spanish coat of arms.

Since 2008, the building has been part of the Senate, which acquired it to expand its facilities and have specific rooms for the self-governing regions, although, as a result of the economic crisis and the lack of budgetary stability, the adaptation work could not be completed. In February 2020, the Senate expansion project was resumed.