Retiro Park

Monument to Alfonso XII. at the artificial lake Estanque del Retiro

The Retiro Park (officially Parque del Retiro or El Retiro for short ) is a 1.43 km² park on the eastern edge of downtown Madrid . The main entrance is on the Puerta de Alcalá .

prehistory

Buen Retiro Castle and Park; Oil painting by Jusepe Leonardo, 1637

Buen Retiro palace and garden on a map from 1656, to the right the artificial lake Estanque del Retiro

The park emerged from the gardens of the Buen Retiro palace complex (beautiful refuge), which was created under the government of Philip II around the Hieronymite Monastery of San Jeronimo el Real , which was built on a gentle hill from 1458 to 1505 . The Conde-Duque Olivares was from 1632 to 1640 the buildings by Giovanni Battista Crescenzi and gardens by Cosimo Lotti , the perfecter of Boboli Gardens , a large baroque complex including an artificial lake, the Estanque del Retiro , remodel. From then on, the king resided here during Lent and during periods of unusual heat. The public only had access to parts of the park. Despite some expansions, Buen Retiro lost its importance after 1764 when the court moved to the new Palacio Real .

The disappearance of the palace ...

During the re-conquest of the insurgent Madrid during the Napoleonic Wars , on December 5, 1808, the French artillery shot a breach from the park in the surrounding wall of the palace buildings. The insurgents then cleared the area. During the subsequent looting, French soldiers in search of hidden treasures caused severe damage by destroying walls and vaults. The palace was not rebuilt, but gradually several ruins were torn down while the site was being built over. Even before the war began, Juan de Villanueva had on behalf of King Charles III. construction of a natural history museum started west of the palace. The picture gallery Museo del Prado was built on the foundations of the unfinished building in 1819 . Above the Prados, the structure of the former monastery church of San Jeronimo el Real was preserved, which was renovated in the neo-Isabelline style from 1848 . Furthermore, Olivares' hall buildings Casón del Buen Retiro , with a ceiling painting by Luca Giordano , and the former throne room Salón de Reinos had survived the devastation. Remodeled into representative individual buildings in the 19th and 20th centuries, they were used for museum purposes. In the 21st century, both, thoroughly restored, will complement the Prado.

... and the creation of the park

The extensions of the Prados (foreground) include the former cloister of the Jerónimos monastery (to the right of the monastery church). To the left of the church with the gray-blue roof of the Casón del Buen Retiro, to the right above the pointed towers of the Salón de Reinos. In the background the Alfons Monument rises out of the green of the Retiro Park

After the fall of Isabella II in 1868, the park came into the possession of the city, which has now made it fully accessible to the public, expanded it and turned it into a public park with national claims. Remains of the royal park and its buildings are the artificial lake Estanque del Retiro and the baroque ground floor behind the Puerta Felipe IV with what is probably Madrid's oldest tree, an ahuehuete planted in 1633 . It goes back to plans by Robert de Cote from the years 1714–1715. The Madrid observatory , a work by Juan de Villanueva from 1790, is used as a museum of astronomy.

The park became the venue for national exhibitions from 1883. The exhibition buildings Palacio de Velázquez and Palacio de Cristal , which is modeled on the London Crystal Palace , built in 1883 and 1887 Ricardo Velázquez Bosco (1843-1923). They have become branches of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía .

In the 1890s, the park received a uniform fence. The Puerta Felipe IV. From 1690 is among the portals that were newly created or moved here for the occasion. Since then, wide avenues , some of which are decorated with carpeted beds, have crossed the park . On the eastern edge of the lake, José Grases Riera (1850-1919) began the monument to King Alfonso XII in 1902 . of Spain in the form of a national monument. The equestrian statue of the King by Mariano Benlliure (1862–1947) rises on a high pedestal in the middle of a semicircular columned hall at the pier , surrounded by allegorical figures of life and work in peace and freedom. Completed in June 1922, it became the park's landmark.

A special feature among the statues and fountains is the Angel Caído (German: fallen angel ), one of the few sculptural representations of Lucifer . The statue was created in 1877 by the Madrid sculptor Ricardo Bellver , who was inspired by the poem Paradise Lost by John Milton . The work was set up in the park in 1885 as a fountain decoration. In addition, the rose garden Rosaleda del Retiro is worth seeing.

In autumn 1979 17,500 park trees were planted as part of a two-day public campaign. Young trees, spades and hoes were made available to the voluntary planting columns by the city administration.

The park is very popular among the residents of Madrid. Especially on the weekends it is the destination of family day trips. All around the Estanque del Retiro, outdoor cafes offer refreshments. On the main paths, individually working musicians, jugglers, magicians, quick draftsmen and puppeteers entertain the visitors.

literature

Gisela Noehles-Doerk: Madrid and Central Spain. Art monuments and museums . Reclam, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-15-010339-8 (= Reclam's Art Guide Spain, Vol. 1), pp. 125-138.
Hans Peter Burmeister, Felix Scheffler: DuMont Art Travel Guide Madrid and Central Spain. DuMont, Ostfildern 2013, ISBN 978-3-7701-3458-8 , p. 153 f.
Adam Hopkins: Madrid . Dorling Kindersley, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-8310-2256-4 , p. 77
Rainer Eisenschmid: Spain. Mainland . Baedeker, Ostfildern 2006, ISBN 978-3-8297-1114-2 , (= Baedeker Alliance Travel Guide Spain), p. 480.
Anthony Ham: Spain . MairDumont, Ostfildern 2011, ISBN 978-3-8297-2236-0 (= Lonely planet. Spain. German edition), pp. 71, 73.