Retiro Park: Symbol Of Madrid

This is a huge green area in the middle of Madrid which has a long history and is full of sculpture and monuments that make this park an outdoor museum. With 118 acres, these gardens date back to the years 1630 and 1640, when the Count-Duke of Olivares, favorite of Philip IV, King gave him some land that had been ceded by the Duke of Fernan Nunez to the recreation of the Cut around the Monastery of Jeronimo de Madrid. Thus, the Fourth Real reform that stood the monastery, began the construction of the Palacio del Buen Retiro. He was then with about 145 hectares. There are many apartments in Madrid close to the park for a holiday.

Under the direction of the architects Giovanni Battista Crescenzi and Alonso Carbonell built several buildings, including the Teatro del Buen Retiro, which hosted performances of the Spanish dramatists of the Golden Age, including Calderon de la Barca and Lope de Vega. Endure even the Cason del Buen Retiro, a former ballroom with frescoes by Luca Giordano, and called the Hall of Realms, a wing of the Palace of Buen Retiro once decorated with paintings by Velázquez and Zurbarán, among others, and the gardens of possession real.

The Rose Garden

Cecilio Rodriguez, outfielder Retirement Staff and Director of Parks and Gardens of Madrid City Council, held in 1915 the Rose Garden Retreat. The idea came from Mayor Carlos Prats, who suggested the need to make a rose garden in the style of those in many European parks.

The Rose Garden of Bagatelle in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, created by Jean-Nicolas Forestier, became the model. Cecilio Rodriguez traveled to Paris to study and bring the first roses. During his stay World War broke out and spent many difficulties to return to Spain.

The rose is comprised of a variety of roses brought from the most famous gardens of Europe. Although totally destroyed in the Civil War in 1941 rose bushes were planted 4000. Despite its beauty, lack a systematic arrangement and clear exposition of the different nature rose within it. To remedy this lack, May 24, 1956, opened a new rose garden in the Parque del Oeste in Madrid, carried out under a rigorous botanical to be held annually in her contest with roses.

Monument to Alfonso XII

This is one of the most characteristic of the park and most impressive, is a sculpture located near the center of the Retiro Park.

In 1902 he convened a national competition to build a monument to King Alfonso XII, on the initiative of the Queen Mother Maria Cristina. The winner was the architect José Riera Grases with a great project in one of the long sides of Pond Retreat, consisting of a colonnade with large number of sculptures that surround the statue of the king, immediately to the pond, all in bronze and marble. When he died, was replaced in the direction Anasagasti Theodore, who made no changes. The monument, financed by public subscription, was opened on June 6, 1922.

The whole unit measures 30 meters high, 86 meters long and 58 meters wide, and participated in its development over twenty sculptors. It was the first commemorative statue during the past century the gardens were populated: works like Benlliure, Clara and Matthew Inurria among others.

The Walk of the Statues

Argentina's El Paseo del Retiro is popularly known as Statuary Walk because it is flanked by a series of them dedicated to the monarchs of Spain, he ordered to decorate the Royal Palace during the reign of Ferdinand VI. At first they were intended to adorn the cornice of the palace.

The figures were made by various authors under the direction of the court sculptor Juan Domingo Olivieri and Felipe de Castro. They came to stand on the ledge of the Royal Palace as can be seen in some engravings of the time, but the arrival of Carlos III in Madrid the king gave orders to withdraw, as he considered the overly ornate palace. For this reason, were placed in different parts of the city (Plaza de Oriente, El Retiro, the Sabatini Gardens) and some took other Spanish provinces.