“Long before Madrid became the capital of Spain, Emir Mohamed I chose Magerit (the city’s Arabic name) as the site for a fortress to protect Toledo from the advancing Christians. The building was eventually used by the Kings of Castile until finally becoming what would be known as the Antiguo Alcázar (Old Fortress) in the 14th century. Carlos I and his son Felipe II turned the building into a permanent residence for the Spanish royal family. However, in 1734 a fire burnt the Palace of Los Austrias to the ground, and Felipe V ordered the construction of the palace that stands today.” https://www.esmadrid.com/en/tourist-information/royal-palace
DESCRIPTION
Madrid becomes the capital of Espana in 1561. This location was the center of civic and religious government for Florida until 1821. It continued to be the capital of much of what is today Latin America until the wars of independence.
Felipe V was monarch from 1700-1746. He was the grandson of Louis XIV. He was born in Versailles and was the first French Bourbon king of Spain, the family which still rules to this day. He intended to build a type of Versailles in Madrid.
Carlos III was the son of Felipe V. He ruled Spain from 1759 to 1788. Before becoming King of Spain, Carlos III lived in Italy for 19 years.
The French and Italian influence on Spanish culture and specifically the Palacio Real is readily apparent. The architects and artists are all Italian. The plans were based on Bernini’s design for Versailles by Filippo Juvarra and Giovanni Battista Sacchetti in cooperation with Ventura Rodríguez, Francesco Sabatini, and Martín Sarmiento. King Carlos III first occupied the new palace in 1764.
Sculptures of the Kings of Spain, including Aztec ruler Moctezuma II and the Inca emperor Atahualpa.
A popular legend described in “Hidden Madrid” describes the fate of the architect of the Palacio Real. The King asks the architect if he thought he could ever design another palace as beautiful as this one. Eager for another commission, the architect responds in the affirmative that of course he could surpass the excellence and beauty of the Palacio Real.
“The monarch, furious at the reply, was not inclined to run the risk of having some other king posses a residence which would rival or even eclipse his own. Thus he immediately had the proud architect led off to a dungeon. There his henchmen ripped out the architect’s eyes, thus preventing him from ever again building another palace, and cut out his tongue so that he could not share his knowledge with others, and finally severed both his arms from his body so that he could never again make any sketches.” (Hidden Madrid)
DESCRIPTION FROM THE OFFICIAL PALACIO REAL WEBSITE
https://www.patrimonionacional.es/en/visita/royal-palace-madrid
The Royal Palace dates back to the 18th century but actually sits on the site of the old Alcázar of Madrid, a medieval fortress converted into a palace which Philip II made the official residence of the kings of Spain in 1561. The Alcazar, decorated with great works of art from the Spanish golden age, was destroyed by a fire on Christmas Eve 1734. Legend has it that members of the court of Philip V, of French origin, started the fire in order to build a French or Versailles-style palace. But it’s just that, a legend.
For the enormous task, King Philip V sent for the best European architect of his time, Filippo Juvarra, who never got to see his work finished, something very common at the time, as the works took many years to complete. It was his disciple, Giambattista Sacchetti, who was in charge of adapting his ambitious project. The entire building is made of vaults with no wood in the structure, which would guarantee the survival of a large part of the Palace in the event of a fire, and with many floors to accommodate all the government offices, the official business of the Royal House and the servants. It was a building made to house the country’s ultimate power.
The first stone was laid in 1738 and the construction was not completed until 1751, although the sculptural decoration of the surroundings continued until 1759 as well as the “exterior works”, always under the direction of Sacchetti, who scrupulously supervised the entire project from start to finish. However, the culmination of his project was altered by Francisco Sabatini, architect of Charles III, the first monarch to live in the Royal Palace where he settled in 1764.
CHARLES III AND THE FIRST COURT TO INHABIT THE PALACE
It was under the reign of Charles III that the Royal Palace of Madrid experienced its greatest Italian-style splendour with the arrival of the most famous painters of that time to decorate his residence: Venetian Giambattista Tiepolo and German Anton Raphael Mengs, trained in Rome, was its first court painter. The series of frescoes painted by these skilled artists in the main rooms is one of the most important features of this residence where both Charles III and his son Charles IV lived during only eight weeks a year: in December, Easter week and part of July. In the rest of the year they lived in the other Crown Palaces: El Escorial, Aranjuez and La Granja.
THE TREASURES TO BE VISITED AT THE ROYAL PALACE
The style of the Palace has been shaped by the tastes of the monarchs who lived there:
The quarters of King Charles III, which includes the rooms of the Enlightenment era King and are some of the most important for the city of Madrid, still retain all the decoration directed by Sabatini, uniform throughout the main floor.
The Throne Room and the so-called Gasparini Chamber are the most representative ensembles of Charles III’s taste, devoted to the rococo style in its most exuberant Italian version. Charles IV was responsible for significant neoclassical ensembles and pieces of French furniture while Ferdinand VII brought the overwhelming collection of French chandeliers in bronze and crystal. The last decorative renovation that lead to the current historical state of the decoration corresponds to Alfonso XII in 1879.
Along the eastern façade are the rooms of Charles IV and Marie-Louise, where successive sovereigns lived until 1931.
The Royal Armoury, the largest European collection along with the Vienna collection, both thanks to the Habsburgs, was installed next to the Alcazar by Philip II and transferred to the current pavilion in 1891. It is undoubtedly one of the best kept treasures and one of the most visited rooms.
EDITOR AND LAST UPDATE
John William Bailly 25 April 2022
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