Four wooden ceilings from the Torrijos Palace, Toledo

Abstract

Prior to the demolition around 1917 of the late fifteenth-century palace built in Torrijos, near Toledo, for Gutierre de Cárdenas, a prominent soldier and courtier, and his wife, Teresa Enríquez, four intricate painted wooden ceilings were removed and are now in museums in London, Madrid and San Francisco and a chateau in the Loire. Research into them as a group has elucidated their function, original appearance and the way that their craftsmen made use of complex carpentry techniques derived from Islamic traditions.