Full Article - The Alchemist's Castle - Piria

Hello my friends from Steemit's darkest and most dangerous dungeons. 

I'm talking about those moisty, cold, dark dungeons that are so small and well hidden no whale is able to find, and if they do, they just can't get in.

As promised and due to the interest of some of you, i'm writing a full post about this castle following the first one I did as a teaser... so this is THE ALCHEMIST'S CASTLE FULL EDITION [thunderstorms roars from the distance while these words are spoken outloud].

The castle was built by Francisco Piria who placed the Engineer Aquiles Monzani in charged of the whole project. It took almost 3 years to have it completed and it was inaugurated in 1897, becoming Piria's permanent residence until the end of his days the 16th Dec 1933.

                                    [Piria in his studio]

Timmy: But where is this castle located Mr @mac-o? 

Me: Well Timmy, it is located 100 kms from Uruguay's capital Montevideo, in a city named Piriapolis

Timmy: Piriapolis? Like Piria?

Me: You got it lad, polis: from old greek it means city-state. Piriapolis was built from scratch by Piria! Now get the f#uck out so I can continue with the post.... and tell your mother I will step by later to...er...help her with the air conditioning.

Ok, now that Timmy "sissy pants" is gone let me continue with the story...

Piria was known as the "pioneer who built his own city", but before acquiring this "title" let me give you some info about this life:

- Was son of Swedish immigrants

- When is parents died, he decided to move to Italy to be raised by his Jesuit uncle

- He came back to Uruguay when he was 16 and started all the deeds that make him famous and rich

- Piria was the founder of more than 70 hoods all over the country

- He built a mining industry in the region as well as a vitiviniculture company

- Part of his building plans included building ports, railroads, palaces and castles.

- When designing Piriapolis he took inspiration in the towns next to the sea in Liguria, Italy

- He was Uruguay's first tourist promotor, since he bought 2700 hectares which then divided in plots and start selling to the wealthy citizens from Montevideo.

- Besides all these, he also was a journalist, writer, philosopher and of course...alchemist 

- Never stopped working accruing the biggest fortune in the country 

Now that you have an idea of who he was, let's focus in our main target here: THE CASTLE!

THE PARK shows several pieces of work dedicated to magnum opus or the Great Work, and also includes many exotic plants and trees that he brought from all over the world.

You can find palm trees brought from Canary islands among other specimens, but the ones that gets the spotlight are the Drago trees [Dracaena draco] also known as the alchemist tree.

[Palm trees from Canary and the castle in the back]

[Draco or Alchemist tree, also known as father tree]

The artwork, which denotes alchemist symbology include fountains, benches, amphoras, statues and terracotta items.  Some of this work was done by Tomaso Airaghi and Giovanni di Bologna.

You can also find a gloriette done in wood and terracotta.

[Entrance guarding hound]

There also an old winery, but I was not able to access it to get some pics, since it's part of private property and I did not felt like getting shot.

[One of the benches done in terracotta]

THE ARCHITECTURAL STYLE it's a mix of medieval and renaissance style with resemblance of Italian Villas. The building is rectangular with torrets in each corner.

The walls are made of bricks [men, I just feel like listening to pink floyd now], and it has two floors and a basement. The basement was not open to public since that's where he placed his alchemy laboratory.

THE FIRST FLOOR, besides having several objects which belonged to Piria, also acts as an art gallery. The main rooms were decorated with imported wall papers, having a 

[artwork from a local artist]

In this floor you can also find the kitchen and the cavalries.

You need to go up a granite stair to access the THE SECOND FLOOR, where you can find more personal objects, vitrals and furniture along with the fireplace. Most of the furniture is Luis XV style.

[mosaics from the fireplace in detail]

[when you see it...]

Piria was indeed a very relevant character in Uruguayan history, but also the region, and this castle it's just a tiny example of what he did during his life. You cannot avoid having a feeling something else is hidden in this castle, and the fact several rooms and areas of the castle are restricted only increases my curiosity and nourishes my conspiratory thoughts.

This is the link to the first post: https://steemit.com/photography/@mac-o/the-alchemist-s-castle-piria#comments

Hope you enjoyed the full post, if you would like to continue reading future ones feel free to follow me @mac-o and as always, we can discuss below in the comments area or in steemit chat.

Timmy: Sir, I couldn't avoid overhearing that...

Me: I told you to F#uck off Timmy!