Spain Holidays Travel

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The Royal Palace of Madrid (also known as the Palacio de Oriente) is the official residence of Juan Carlos I , King of Spain. It is considered the largest royal palace in Western Europe in terms of area, with 135,000 m² and more than 3418 rooms. It houses a valuable historical and artistic heritage, among which is the Palatine Stradivarius quintet, the world’s largest collection of these instruments, as well as very important collections of other artistic disciplines.

El Palacio de Real is really a suburb of Madrid and is on the way to the airport, only about 10 km from the city. This palace used to be Franco’s residence for 35 years until his death in 1975 and is still surrounded by a large military base.

History

The palace was built originally as a hunting pavilion in the 15th century on a piece of land that spreads 80 square kilometers (31 square miles). In the 16th century Carlos I ordered to refurbish the oldest of the buildings. Carlos III ordered to make the palace bigger and spent from January through March here hunting and living here with his family (he had 12 children, all with the same queen).

Its construction began in 1738, according to architect’s plans Filippo Juvara, significantly modified by his pupil Juan Bautista Sachetti. Juvara was inspired by Bernini’s unrealized project for the Palais du Louvre in 1665. This background made the general arrangement of the volumes as well as the configuration of the building as a function of not only royal residence, but also courteous to all their different needs, while taking into account the administrative facilities.

Francesco Sabatini, who was the architect of Palacio Real in Madrid and many other royal palaces, used the older part of the building as a base, and built a replica of the courtyard on the other side of the building, so now there is the courtyard of the Habsburgs that is the courtyard that you enter the building through, and the courtyard of the Bourbons, the replica of the first, on the opposite site.

It was the habitual residence of the kings of Spain until 1931. It continue to be held the main receptions, official events and ceremonies of state, while the private residence of the royal family’s Zarzuela Palace, where the current kings settled after their marriage in 1962 to give King Juan Carlos I to live at the Royal Palace. Charles III was the first monarch to continuously inhabited the palace.

The last monarch who lived in the palace of Alfonso XIII was continuous, although Manuel Azana, president of the Second Republic, also dwelt on it, making it the last head of state who did. During that period was known as the National Palace. There is still a room next to the Royal Chapel, which is known by the name of “Dispatch Azaña.” Another of the names used to refer to the building is the Palacio de Oriente, this name comes from the square which bears one of the balconies of the palace, the Plaza de Oriente, which is also the Teatro Real.

Inside the Palace

Its exterior walls consist of two parts: a base pad at the base and above it, provides a two-story upper body with a series of giant Tuscan pilasters at the center as well as the salient angles of the four facades, pillars composite order, the building is topped with a cornice and balustrade. In the main facade (south side), 130 meters long by 33 tall, extends an open space that forms the Plaza de Armas, similar to the burning castle. The palace has a total of 870 windows and 240 balconies that open onto walls and patio.

Located on the main floor of the palace’s south side, between the Throne Room and the Hall of Gasparini. Its considerable size and its three windows and balconies that directly overlook the Armory Square, made this stay one of the most important quarter of the King Carlos III.

In fact, this was “part where the king ate,” and as this act was important for the court ceremonial, the parlor had to be extended at the expense of a small adjoining room. In the early 1760′s, Carlos III commissioned to design and stucco Italian painter Matthias Gasparini, along with the adjoining antechamber and the famous hall of the southwest tower.

Gasparini completed work on the walls hung tapestries of the series of David, Solomon and Absalom, which were woven at the Royal Tapestry Factory in Madrid. Little remains of its original design, as during the reign of Charles IV and his son Ferdinand VII were introduced decorative neoclassical style empire.Only preserved stucco decorations in place in 1763 Juan Bautista Andreoli, as instructed by Francisco Sabatini, and ceiling frescoes painted by Antonio Rafael Mengs (1728-1779) with the representation-driven to the temple of immortality their virtues and military victories.

The Palacio Real’s outhouses

The palace outbuildings and annexes include the recently refurbished Armeria Real (Royal Armoury), a huge room full of guns, swords and armour, with curh curiosities as the suit of ammour worn by Carlos V in his equestrian portrait by Titian in the Prado.

Especially fascinating are the complete sets of armour, with all the original spare parts and gadgets for making adjustments. There is also an eighteenth-century Farmacia, a curious mixture of alchemist’s den and laboratory, whose walls are lined with jars labelled for various remedies.The Biblioteca Real (Royal Library) can now only be visited by prior arrangement for research purposes.

The gardens of Palacio Real

Immediately north of the palace, the Jardines, Sabatini provide a shady retreat and venue for summer concerts, while to the rear the larger, and far more beautiful, park of the Campo del Moro (April-Sept Mon-Sat 10arn-8pm, Sun 9am-8pm; Oct-March Mon-Sat 70am-6pm, Sun 9am-6pm; occasional closed for state visits; access only from the far west side off the Paseo de la Virgen del Puerto) affords shady walks and a splendid view of the western facade of the palace.

Since the times of Ferdinand VII this palace was the official residence of Spanish kings, because it was close to the city and well guarded by the military (still is).

You can get here by bus #601 from Moncloa or by car. If you go by car, go along Gran Via through Plaza de Espana in the direction of A-6 (A Coruna), go through the arch on Moncloa, follow M-30 to the exit to El Pardo, after the exit follow the signs. You will pass Zarzuela, La Quinta, and keep going until you see the sign for the Palacio Real. If you know where you are going, it will take you 20 minutes, if you don’t but just follow the signs, it will take you 30 minutes. But don’t worry, you won’t get lost.

The palace has only guided tours, and if you want an English-speaking guide, you may have to wait. Nowadays heads of state from foreign countries stay here when they come to Spain for official visits.

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Aragon and Castile Spain were the main states of the 12th century to 15, by the marriage of Ferdinand II and Isabella I 1469th In 1478, they founded the Inquisition, the eradication of heresy and detection of Jews and Muslims , Was not openly converted to Christianity.

Torquemada, the most experienced great inquisitors, epitomized the Inquisition of the harshness and cruelty. The last Muslim stronghold, Grenada, he was taken prisoner in 1492 The Catholic Church has been regarded as official state religion and most Jews (1492) and Muslims (1502) have been displaced. In the era of exploration, discovery and colonization, Spain Galantamin enormous wealth and a large colonial empire by conquest of Mexico by Cortes (1519-1521) and Peru by Pizarro (1532-15

33). The Spanish Hapsburg monarchy was at one time the world’s most powerful. In 1588, Philip II sent his unbesiegbare Armada to conquer England, but the costs of destruction from Spain to its hegemony over the seas and paved the way for Angleterre’s colonization of America. Spain has decreased, then quickly on the status of a second-rate power under the reign of the Hapsburg kings weak, and he never again an important role in European politics. The War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714) in Spain has resulted in the loss of Belgium, Luxembourg, Milan, Naples and Sardinia. Its colonial empire in America and the Philippines, disappeared in wars and revolutions of the 18th century and 19.

In World War I, Spain to maintain a position of neutrality. In 1923, General Miguel Primo de Rivera was a dictator. In 1930, King Alfonso XIII to withdraw from the dictatorship, but a strong antimonarchist Republican Movement and led to its withdrawal from Spain in 1931. The new Constitution, Spain declares a worker “Republic, which has large land, separated Church and state, and secular schools. The elections of 1936 reached a strong majority of the Popular Front, as President by Manuel Azaña.

On 18 July 1936, a conservative leader in Morocco, Francisco Franco Bahamonde, led a mutiny against the government. The civil war has taken over three years and cost the lives of nearly one million people. Franco was supported by fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, while Soviet Russia helped to ensure that the loyalists. Several hundred Americans left has served in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade on the front page of the Republic. The war ended, as Franco in Madrid on March 28, 1939. Franco was head of state, national commander of the Falange party (the party), and the Prime Minister and Caudillo (guide).

In a referendum during the year 1947, the Spanish people approved a Franco-author compatibility of succession of Spain a monarchy. Franco, but as head of state. In 1969, Franco and the Cortes ( “States”), designated Prince Juan Carlos Alfonso Victor Marie de Bourbon (married Princess Sophie of Greece in 1962) the king of Spain, if the provisional government, headed by Franco the end comes. Franco died on November 20, 1975, and King Juan Carlos was proclaimed November 22

Under pressure from the Catalan and Basque nationalists, Minister-President Adolfo Suarez home usually given to these regions in 1979. Basque separatist terrorists committed hundreds of bombings and kidnappings. With the overwhelming election of Mr. Felipe González Márquez and his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, October 20, 1982, parliamentary elections, Franco-past was finally buried.