The palace of Montehermoso is a building that dates back to the 16th century, although it has been extensively refurbished. It is located in the highest and oldest part of the city, in the area known as El Campillo. Historically it has had several uses, the penultimate being to serve as the Episcopal see. Nowadays, after a thorough remodelling and the expansion of its surface area through the annexation of the former Vitoria Water Depot, the building opened its doors in 1997 as the Montehermoso Kulturunea Cultural Centre, oriented towards contemporary art and culture.
The building was constructed in 1524 in Gothic-Renaissance style on the initiative of the licentiate Hortuño (or Fortunio) Ibáñez de Aguirre, a member of the Royal Council of Castile and the Inquisition, and his wife María de Esquível y Arratia, with the aim of housing a community of Dominican nuns. However, once completed, the palace became the private residence of the Aguirre-Esquível family, who decided to build the convent of Santa Cruz for the Dominican nuns instead.
In the following centuries, the palace, with its two-storey interior courtyard with segmental arches, was a regular overnight stay for the Spanish monarchs when they stopped in Vitoria, as well as for other members of the nobility. The name Montehermoso comes from the title of marquisate that on 14th December 1714 was granted to María Antonia de Salcedo y Echávarri, widow of Vicente José de Aguirre y Zárate, in gratification for her services as a bridesmaid to the children of Felipe V, the princes of Asturias and future kings Luis I and his half-brother Carlos III, and as lady-in-waiting to Isabel de Farnesio.
A century later, another Marquise of Montehermoso, María del Pilar Acedo y Sarriá, and her husband, Ortuño de Aguirre y del Corral, 6th Marquis of Montehermoso, hosted Joseph Bonaparte on his way to Madrid.
After the Bourbon restoration, in 1816, the Town Council of Vitoria confiscated the palace and the Montehermoso estate by virtue of a royal order that established that such properties were henceforth the property of the Crown. That same year the building suffered some collapses. Later, during the Third Carlist War, Montehermoso was an artillery barracks before being acquired by the Diocese of Vitoria in 1887 from its last owner, the Marquis of Amparo. On converting it into its headquarters, the Bishopric commissioned the architect Fausto Íñiguez de Betolaza to reform the façade, which acquired its current neo-Gothic appearance. In 1928 another important refurbishment was undertaken.
In 1994, Vitoria City Council bought the building from the Bishopric for 323 million pesetas with the original idea of using it for municipal offices. In 1997, with the refurbishment work already completed, the Culture Department of the City Council decided to convert the building into a cultural centre, and extended, after building an underground connection, to the Old Water Tank of Vitoria, a 1,365 square metre cistern built in 1895, which since 1994 had been providing a unique space for art exhibitions, mixed-media productions and audiovisual shows. Thus the Montehermoso Cultural Centre was born, defining itself as a multidisciplinary space for the production, exhibition and dissemination of contemporary art and thought, and as an institution committed to the promotion of local artists.
The Centre held its inaugural exhibition, Vitoria-Gasteiz in Art, from 3 October 1997 to 8 January 1998. Since then, its 4671 square metres of usable surface area have hosted numerous exhibitions of painting, photography, models and montages, musical recitals, children's events, conferences and other cultural events. The most important rooms are: the cloister, conceived as a reception area for visitors and the distribution of rooms; the old water tank, the Melchor Gaspar de Jovellanos Room, dedicated to projections; the Media Library, which manages artistic collections in the fields of visual arts and multimedia, and the Plastic Arts Documentation Centre.
Access to the lower levels is via a wide, minimalist ramp-tunnel with panels. There are also several documentation rooms and multi-purpose rooms for courses, seminars and workshops, and a cafeteria with a terrace in the so-called Falerina Garden.