The area where the majestic Royal Palace stands today was occupied during the 8th and 11th centuries by a Muslim fortress that dominated the highest part of the city for defensive purposes. After the Christian conquest of the city, the space was transformed into the old Alcázar where numerous monarchs who ruled the vast Spanish empire resided until the 18th century. On the night of December 24, 1734, a huge fire broke out in the palace kitchens, destroying this historic building and ending the finest architectural work of the Habsburg period. Four years later, in 1738, the first Bourbon to ascend the Spanish throne, Philip V, commissioned the Italian architects Juvarra and Sachetti to build a new Royal Palace that would be worthy of his dynasty, a building that we can admire today.