Archivo de Indias

The Archivo de Indias is a massive, two-story stone building topped with a flat roof and a decorative stone balustrade. Originally commissioned by King Philip the Second as a merchant exchange, the structure forced the city's traders out of the cathedral steps where they had previously conducted business. Its grand inner courtyard was designed by Juan de Herrera, who also oversaw the construction of El Escorial. Thousands of maps and over eighty million pages of documents detailing the Spanish Empire remain stored inside.