The current headquarters of the Parliament of La Rioja occupies a part of the old Convent of La Merced. It is located in the western part of the historic center of Logroño and located next to the only vestige of the old city wall, the Revellín Gate.
Although there are documentary testimonies that could support the belief that the Mercedarios order could have been settled in the city of Logroño since the end of the 13th century, the documentary testimonies and the architectural elements themselves are those that confirm that the Convent of La Merced already it occupied its current location in the 16th century.
Built mostly in that century, the access that can be seen from the outside was reformed in the seventeenth century. The convent formed one of the entrances to the city next to the wall. The building later had other uses, among them the Military Hospital in the 19th century and the Tobacco Factory, at the end of that same century and until 1978.
Three different spaces
Today the old convent is divided into three different spaces. The Parliament of La Rioja (central) where the church was located and which preserves the two-story cloister where the La Riojan hemicycle is located, under a spectacular glass vault; the library (east wing) located in what was the conventual area; and the Amós Salvador Exhibition Hall, which occupies what was the west wing of the building, bordering the city wall.
Calle Marqués de San Nicolás, 111. 26001 Logroño.
