Gothic-Mudéjar coffered ceiling. On 20 January 1486, here was held the first interview between the queen Isabella I of Castile with Christopher Columbus to finance the trip to the Indies. In 1524 Archbishop Alonso de Fonseca y Ulloa (1523-1534) commissioned to the architect Alonso de Covarrubias the construction of the west wing, with its courtyards and its magnificent staircase. His successor, Cardinal Juan Pardo de Tavera (1534-1545), finished the work. Throughout its existence it housed in its inside the archives of the diocese of Toledo. Subsequently, its facilities were used for the custody of the Notary Clerks and the Judicial revenue. And from 1858 to 1939 was the Central General Archive of Alcalá de Henares. Given the saturation of the Archivo de Simancas and its distance to the Court of Madrid, was determined the creation of the Central General Archive in 1858 in the Archbishop's Palace after its assignment to the State for this purpose by Archbishop Cirilo de Alameda y Brea (1857-1872). This Archive received documents from the ministries and agencies suppressed following the reform of 1834. After the regulatory deadlines it forwarded the documents to the National Historical Archive, until on August 12, 1939 a fire destroyed the Central General Archive. Its successor, from 1969 is General Archive of the Administration (AGA), also in Alcalá de Henares. Currently, from 1991, it is the seat of Bishopric of Alcalá de Henares, and residence of the bishop. Disastrous fire of 1939 The Archbishop's Palace was a barracks for tanks and ammunitions, both during and after the Civil War, when, for the failure to prevent flammable materials that were there, there was a big fire. It was not the first suffered in its long history, but one of the most voracious, because it destroyed much of the buildings and the documentation kept there for three centuries. Among the artistic treasures that were lost in the Archbishop's Palace are: the Mudéjar coffered ceiling of the Hall of Councils, the monumental staircase of Covarrubias -author of the façade-, the courtyard of Fonseca, the courtyard of the Hallelujah, the facade of the courtyard of the Ave Maria, paintings, and the first archaeological museum of the city. The building The building has undergone numerous constructions and rehabilitations, being especially devastating the fire of August 11, 1939, which destroyed two thirds of its structure: three courtyards ("the Fonseca" or "the Covarrubias", "the Hallelujah" and the "of