This beautiful structure, located in the South side of the Buen Retiro Park in Madrid is one of my favorite sites I saw in the famed city. It is nestled in between massive oak tress across a green pond with a fountain and every angle you look at it from shows you something new. The glass palace is made mostly of glass with the foundation and framework from a strong iron. It is a sight to behold and one that you will have a hard to finding anywhere else in the world on this scale.
The history of this building is that it was constructed in 1887 from a design created by Ricardo Velazquez Bosco and erected to be a home for plants from the Philippines during an exhibition that was taking place in this massive park right. The palace was built so that it could be relocated but that has never happened and it still stands in the same place today.
When I was there I marveled at how well maintained and beautiful it was as well as how much work it must take to clean. There is nothing actually inside of the palace now but a blank floor and a small staircase to a bathroom. However they do have art exhibits that are shown in the palace. When I was there an art exhibit was going on that took colored circles and placed them in the palace. This neither added nor took away from the charm for me.
One thing I didn’t consider before going there was all of the birds that would be trapped inside. As you can imagine, if a bird flies in it has a really hard time getting out as everything looks like an exit to them, so I heard many birds flying around the top of the palace.
This location is free and is a must visit in Madrid, as is the entire park in which it is a part of. Please leave a comment below with your thoughts.
