Pilgrims

These figures in relief that adorn the jambs of the entrance of this house keep the history and mystery of its past. Its original location was on the facade of the Casa-Palacio de los Monroy (José Zorrilla street), where we can see a curious legend on the frontispiece of the door related to these pilgrim reliefs, which reads as follows: SV HAZIENDA NADIE DEXE-EN MVGER QVE NO ES/RAZON-POR DEXARLA SE PERDIERON ESTOS-Q/SEÑORES FVERON DE BELVIS Y DE MONROI.

Tradition has it that this legend alludes to the fact that these two brothers made a pilgrimage to Rome to atone to the Holy Father for the dissolute life they had led and that, upon their return, their wives had squandered their fortune. However, perhaps the most accurate theory is that in the War of Succession (1701-1713) between the aspirants to the Spanish throne, Philip of Bourbon against the Archduke Charles of Austria, these Lords of Monroy were on the side of the Archduke, and when Philip V won and stripped the rivals of their possessions, rather than be branded as disloyal or traitors to the victorious power, they preferred to say that their wives had been the cause of such a blunder.

These pilgrims symbolized the journey to Rome of the two brothers, having left a record of this feat on the façade of their palace.