Casa y Torre de Los Lujanes in Madrid

Casa y Torre de Los Lujanes is one of the oldest architectural complexes of the city. It consists of an early 15th-Century tower and a house dating from the later part of the same century. Both were constructed in the Mudejar style. The complex was commissioned by the family of Alvaro de Lujan in 1494, after whom the residence eventually took its name.

It remained family property until the 18th Century. As the tallest civil building in the area, in the early 19th Century, it was converted into a telegraph tower handling the connection between Madrid and Aranjuez. According to a popular belief, Francis I was imprisoned in the tower of the complex following his capture in battle of Pavia in 1525. the French king refused to kneel and pay respects to the Spanish monarch. Angered, Carlos I had the front door of the tower lowered considerably so that Francis I was forced to bend when entering the building. Since the second half of the 19th Century, Los Lujanes has served as the seat of a number of social and scientific organisations.