BATIMENT
A building standing in the centre of the medieval borough was already referred to as the "Grande maison du marché" (big market house) in the 15th century. It was burnt down when Bouvignes was sacked by the troops of the King of France in 1554. Its cellars were used as foundations for the "Maison espagnole".
It was built about 1570 in a Renaissance-inspired, but still Gothic style. The three baroque volute gables were added in the first half of the 17th century. In 1681 it was referred to as "one of the most outstanding houses of the town".
It was originally the property of Gobert Maistrecocq, a rich ironmaster, and its name alludes to the period when Bouvignes was dependent on the crown of Spain.
In 1888, it became the Town Hall and a boys’ school. When the municipalities were amalgamated for the first time in 1964 by an act of Parliament, the building acquired a cultural vocation. The Spanish House loses its status of communal house. It was then transformed into a cultural centre consisting of a library and a museum. In the 1980's, the Spanish House houses a lighting museum.
Finally, since 2008, after a major renovation, it has been lending its walls to the discovery of the Middle Ages in the Mosan valley in the "Maison du patrimoine médiéval mosan".
