He found a Renaissance facade in his new house and will get over €1 million

Imagine buying an old house to fix up slowly and live in, then chipping at a wall and finding a 15-metre Renaissance facade. That is what happened to Juan Francisco León Catena in Úbeda, in Spain's southern province of Jaén. A decade later, he is about to be paid for it.

What happened?

In November 2016, León and his father started knocking back the walls of the house he had bought in Úbeda's old town. Úbeda, together with nearby Baeza, has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2003.

Behind the plaster they found the front of the church of the former San Jorge hospital, also called Pero Almides. The church dates from 1347, but the facade is later, from the late 15th century. It measures 15 metres wide and 11 high. It is attributed to Andrés de Vandelvira, the Renaissance architect behind the main monuments of Úbeda and Baeza.

Experts later praised its "great aesthetic value" and called it a unique case in Úbeda. Soon after, the Andalusian regional culture department ruled that any work on the houses is limited by heritage law.

Why a million euros?

Spain's 1985 Historical Heritage Law rewards people who make chance discoveries during building work. The regional government's valuation committee has now put the sum at more than €1 million.

Getting there was not easy. The Junta de Andalucía (the regional government) refused to pay. It argued that the facade supposedly bore the Messía coat of arms, a protected heraldic emblem. Andalusia's high court rejected that because the claim was not proven. The Supreme Court has now ended the legal fight.

What's next?

The facade is still cordoned off, exactly as it was found. León says he wants to show it off quickly, and he is negotiating with Úbeda's town hall. His idea: keep the facade visible from the street, even if the building shrinks, if the council pays for restoring the four-storey property.

There is urgency. A conservation report warns that the poor roof of the neighbouring council-owned houses, numbers 10 and 12, lets in rainwater. It cites rotting beams, mould and a "risk of collapse". León says he has private proposals, but they depend on an archaeological project.