Palacio de Cristal: A Glass House for the Philippines
Why is it significant?
Walk down to the edge of the little lake and let the Palacio de Cristal reflect upside down in the water: a skeleton of white iron, walls of glass, a dome of glass, and through it, the sky.
Key Facts
| Place | Palacio de Cristal: A Glass House for the Philippines |
|---|---|
| Address | Paseo Julio Romero de Torres, Parque del Retiro, 28009 Madrid, Spain |
| Geo Coordinates | 40.41360, -3.68210 |
| Part of Walk | Madrid's Landscape of Light: The Paseo del Arte, the Prado & the Retiro |
| Generated | Generated |
Walk down to the edge of the little lake and let the Palacio de Cristal reflect upside down in the water: a skeleton of white iron, walls of glass, a dome of glass, and through it, the sky. On a sunny morning it seems to be made of light itself, which is a fine place to end a walk through the Landscape of Light.
It was built in 1887 by the architect Ricardo Velázquez Bosco, inspired by the Crystal Palace in London, as a giant greenhouse for an exhibition about the Philippines, then a Spanish colony. The lake in front was designed at the same time, and it once held exotic water plants. Those bald cypress trees standing with their roots in the water add to the feeling that you have wandered into another climate.
The exhibition had a darker side that Madrid remembers now with discomfort. Alongside plants, tobacco and crafts, it displayed people: dozens of men and women brought from the Philippines and set to live on show in the park, as was the custom of colonial fairs at the time. Several of them fell ill, and some did not survive their stay. Historians and Filipino artists have since returned to that story, and it has become part of how this building is understood.
Today the glass house belongs to the Museo Reina Sofía, where you began, and it hosts installations made for this space alone. Artists have filled it with fog, with sound, with water, with sculptures hanging from the iron ribs. Because it has no proper walls, the art changes with the weather, the hour, the clouds passing over the roof.
So think of the line you have just walked: a jungle in a railway station, Guernica, a wall of living plants, the king's botanical garden, Velázquez and Goya, a rebuilt cloister, a sea god, a goddess with lions, a gate with two faces, a royal pond... and now a palace of glass. Sit on the steps for a while. The Retiro is all around you, and there is no better place in Madrid to do absolutely nothing.