The Royal Academy of History began as a literary meeting club of friends, in the year 1735. The members approached King Philip V to ask him to authorise the meetings and the monarch granted his protection. With this, the discussion group, which had begun to focus on historical research, became the Royal Academy of History.
The authorisation was given by Philip V via the Royal Decree of 17 June 1738. From then on, the Academy enjoyed royal protection as did the other similar corporations, all of which were created in the same way, culminating in the 18th century with the founding of the three oldest: the Royal Spanish Academy, the Royal Academy of History and the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts.
The Royal Academy of History occupied the former library of the Royal Palace and the Casa de la Panadería before moving, in 1837, to its current location in the former Casa del Nuevo Rezado, although it was not until 22 June 1874 that it became the permanent headquarters, upon completion of diverse adaptation works.
The Casa del Nuevo Rezado was used as a storeroom for prayer books of the Hieronymite monks from El Escorial. The building was constructed by Juan de Villanueva in 1788. The palace lacks decorative pieces but is large in size and the materials used are of great wealth.
The building is an immense industrial cube with the main ground floor and a solid second floor, in which its dimensions stand out. A coat of arms can be seen on the façade in which St. Lawrence’s gridiron appears, a sign of its connections with the Monastery of El Escorial. Inside the building, there are no wooden beams but there are brick vaults, due to the fact that the risk of fire is higher with wood and the building was used to store books.
Over time, the Academy joined the Marqués de Molins Palace to this building and a small section of Calle de las Huertas, until occupying the entire block.
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