Invernadero de Arganzuela: A Jungle in the Old Slaughterhouse
Why is it significant?
Stand before the long hall of iron and glass, its roof rising in a central nave like a railway station, and see through the panes not trains but palm fronds, giant leaves and the spiky silhouettes of cacti.
Key Facts
| Place | Invernadero de Arganzuela: A Jungle in the Old Slaughterhouse |
|---|---|
| Address | Paseo de la Chopera 10, 28045 Madrid, Spain |
| Geo Coordinates | 40.39350, -3.70020 |
| Part of Walk | Madrid Río: Royal Bridges, a Buried Motorway and the Slaughterhouse Turned Arts Factory |
| Generated | Generated |
Stand before the long hall of iron and glass, its roof rising in a central nave like a railway station, and see through the panes not trains but palm fronds, giant leaves and the spiky silhouettes of cacti.
This is the Invernadero de Arganzuela, also called the Palacio de Cristal de la Arganzuela, the Crystal Palace of Arganzuela. It was not built for plants at all. It was part of the old municipal slaughterhouse and cattle market next door, a working hall of the early twentieth century, all function and ventilation, through which passed the food supply of a growing capital.
When the slaughterhouse closed, the city had a strange inheritance: a vast empty shed of glass. In 1992 it reopened as a greenhouse, and today it holds thousands of plants divided into several climate zones, from a humid tropical jungle with ponds of fish and water plants, to a dry hall of desert cactuses that look entirely at home in a Madrid August.
It is one of those places Madrileños keep to themselves. Locals bring their children on weekend mornings, photographers come for the light filtering through the glass, and in the middle of winter it is the warmest, greenest room in the south of the city. Step inside and you change continents in a few paces: plants from tropical forests, from the Mediterranean, from the dry lands of the Americas and Africa, all under one roof. The air changes with them, from steamy and heavy to dry and dusty, so your glasses may fog up in one room and clear in the next.
There is a lovely irony in it. A building made to serve death, the daily slaughter of the city's cattle, now exists entirely to keep things alive, and the only creatures it feeds are the fish in the ponds. Leave the greenhouse and walk a few steps further along Paseo de la Chopera to the brick pavilions of the slaughterhouse itself.