Retiro Park
Parque del Buen Retiro
LocationMadrid, Spain
Coordinates40°24′54″N 03°41′02″W / 40.41500°N 3.68389°W / 40.41500; -3.68389
Area142 hectares (350 acres)
Created1680
Operated byCity Council of Madrid
StatusPublic park
CriteriaCultural: (ii), (iv), (vi)
Designated2021 (44th session)
Part ofPaseo del Prado and Buen Retiro, a landscape of Arts and Sciences
Reference no.1618
RegionEurope and North America
TypeNon-movable
CriteriaHistoric Garden
Designated8 February 1935
Reference no.RI-52-0000015

The Buen Retiro Park (Spanish: Parque del Buen Retiro, literally "Good Retreat Park"), Retiro Park or simply El Retiro is one of the largest parks of the city of Madrid, Spain. The park belonged to the Spanish monarchy until 1868, when it became a public park.

The park is 1.4 km2 (350 acres), at the edge of the city centre. It is near both the Puerta de Alcalá and the Museo del Prado. It has gardens, monuments, galleries, an artificial lake, and venues which host a variety of events. The park is surrounded by the city of Madrid.

In 2021, Buen Retiro Park became part of a combined UNESCO World Heritage Site with Paseo del Prado.[1]

History

The old Buen Retiro Palace with the gardens

In 1505, the Jeronimos monastery was moved to the present site of the Church of Saint Jerome the Royal, and built in the style of Isabelline Gothic. The royal family had a retreat built as part of the church. King Philip II (r. 1556–1598) moved the Spanish court to Madrid in 1561. Philip had the Retiro enlarged by his architect Juan Bautista de Toledo, and formal avenues of trees were laid out.

The gardens were extended in the 1620s, when Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares, gave the king several tracts of land in the vicinity for the court's recreational use. Olivares, in the king's favor, built a royal residence that was superior to the villas that had been built for the Roman nobles. Although this second royal residence was to be built in what were then outlying areas of Madrid, it was not far from the existing Alcázar, and the location was ideal.

In the 1630s, the buildings for the palace were built under the supervision of architects Giovanni Battista Crescenzi and Alonso Carbonell. Two of the buildings remain: the Casón del Buen Retiro, which served as a ballroom, and the Hall of Realms.[2]

The Count-Duke of Olivares commissioned the park in the 1630s. It was designed by Cosimo Lotti, a garden designer who had worked on the layout of the Boboli Gardens. Water was a distinguishing feature of the garden from its beginning. The layout of the gardens were defined by water features including the great pond, the great canal, the narrow channel, and the chamfered or bellflower pond.

Buen Retiro became the center of Habsburg court life at a time when Spain was a world power. During the reigns of Philip IV and Charles II several plays were performed in the park for the royal family and the court.

Paseo de la Argentina
Lake, boats and the Alfonso XII monument

The gardens were neglected after the death of Philip IV in 1665, but have been restored and changed on many occasions.[3] Philip V ordered the creation of a parterre, the only French-style garden in the complex. During the reign of Ferdinand VI, Buen Retiro was the setting for Italian operas. Charles III (1759–1788) ordered the replacement of the old walls with wrought-iron railings. The Buen Retiro Palace was used until the era of Charles III. Juan de Villanueva's Astronomical Observatory was built during the reign of Charles IV (1788–1808).

Most of the palace and its gardens were destroyed during the Peninsular War (1807–1814) when the troops of the First French Empire built the Citadel of Madrid in its grounds. The park had many changes during Queen Isabella II's reign. Many trees were planted and previously unplanted areas were landscaped. In 1868, when Queen Isabella was overthrown, the gardens passed to public ownership.

In 1883 the park hosted the Exposición Nacional de Minería. 14 hectares of the park served as fairgrounds of the 1887 Philippines Exposition,[4] which included a human zoo. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Monument to Alfonso XII of Spain, designed by José Grases Riera, was built next to the pond. Countless statues, fountains and commemorative monuments have filled the park and converted it into an open-air sculpture museum. New gardens were created during the 1930s and 40s, attributed to Chief Gardener Cecilio Rodriguez, who designed and built the rose garden.

Features

Rosaleda (rose-garden)
Casita del Pescador

Close to the northern entrance of the park is the Estanque del Retiro ("Retirement Pond"), a large artificial pond. Next to it is the monument to King Alfonso XII, featuring a semicircular colonnade and an equestrian statue of the monarch on the top of a tall central core.

The Rosaleda (rose garden) is an early 20th century feature inspired by the Bagatelle rose garden in the Bois de Boulogne. Near the roses stands the Fountain of the Fallen Angel, erected in 1922, whose main sculpture El Angel Caído (at the top) is a work by Ricardo Bellver (1845–1924) inspired by a passage from John Milton's Paradise Lost,[5] which represents Lucifer falling from Heaven. It is claimed that this statue is the only known public monument of Satan.[6]

The few remaining buildings of the Buen Retiro Palace, including Casón del Buen Retiro and the Salon de Reinos, now house museum collections. The Casón has a collection of 19th- and 20th-century paintings, including art by the Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla. The Ejército, one of Spain's foremost Army museums, has moved to Toledo.

Since assuming its role as a public park the late 19th century, the "Parque del Retiro" has been used as a venue for various international exhibitions. Several emblematic buildings have remained as testimony to such events, including the Mining building, popularly known as the Velázquez Palace (1884) by architect Ricardo Velázquez Bosco, who designed the Palacio de Cristal ("Crystal Palace"), a glass pavilion inspired by The Crystal Palace in London, undoubtedly the gardens' most extraordinary building. Built along with its artificial pond in 1887 for the Philippine Islands Exhibitions, the Palacio de Cristal was first used to display flower species indigenous to the archipelago. The landscape-style gardens located in the former "Campo Grande" are also a reminder of the international exhibitions that have taken place here in the past.

The Paseo de la Argentina, also known as Paseo de las Estatuas ("Statue Walk"), is decorated with some of the statues of kings from the Royal Palace, sculpted between 1750 and 1753.

There are art galleries in the Crystal Palace, Palacio de Velázquez, and Casa de Vacas.

In the Retiro Park is the Forest of Remembrance (Bosque del recuerdo), a memorial monument to commemorate the 191 victims of the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks.

Activities

Crystal Palace in Retiro Park
Sunset in Retiro
Statue of Hercules and the Nemean lion

From late May through early October,[7] every Sunday at midday, the Banda Sinfónica de Madrid gives free concerts from the bandstand in the park near the Calle de Alcalá. Manuel Lillo Torregrosa composed 'Kiosko del Retiro' to this bandstand.

The park features an annual Book Fair. Not only is there an annual book fair, but shelves for used books where people will drop off their used books, magazines, or newspapers.[8] There are events throughout the year such as concerts, firework shows, and holiday/cultural events.[9][10]

There is an outdoor exercising area for both the old and the young.[11] While the older one includes equipment to stretch, keep arthritis in check, and keeps the elderly active with things such as bicycle pedals. The younger portion includes bars for triceps dips, pull-ups, sit-ups, and locals have brought bigger stones to use as weights.

Around the lake, Retiro Pond, many puppet shows, street performers, and fortune tellers perform. Rowboats can be rented to paddle around the Estanque, and horse-drawn carriages are available.

Retiro provides multiple different sports courts that are managed by the city.[10]

There are multiple playground areas.[10] The inside of the Palacio de Cristal has been modified to include a stone slide.[12]

The major paths and walkways are used by families, runners, bikers and rollerbladers.

References

  1. ↑ "UNESCO grants world heritage status to Madrid's Paseo del Prado and Retiro Park". Reuters. 25 July 2021. Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  2. ↑ The creation of Buen Retiro is narrated in Jonathan Brown and J. H. Elliott, A Palace for a King: the Buen Retiro and the Court of Philip IV, 2003.
  3. ↑ "Parque del Buen Retiro". gardenvisit.com. Archived from the original on 2008-03-18. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  4. ↑ Sánchez Gómez, Luis Ángel (2003). Un imperio en la vitrina: el colonialismo español en el Pacífico y la exposición de Filipinas de 1887. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. pp. 69–70. ISBN 84-00-08190-0. Archived from the original on 2022-06-06. Retrieved 2021-11-18.
  5. ↑ Catálogo de la Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes ("Catalogue of the National Fine Arts Exhibition"), Madrid, 1878, p. 86-87. Also mentioned, among others, by professor Carlos Reyero in his book Escultura, museo y estado en la España del siglo XIX: historia, significado y catálogo de la colección nacional de escultura moderna, 1856-1906, Alicante, 2002, ISBN 84-931949-6-4.
  6. ↑ "Madrid enjoys the devil of a row over a fallen angel". The Independent. 1998-05-27. Archived from the original on 2022-05-25. Retrieved 2013-08-30.
  7. ↑ Christopher Webber (21 May 2006). "Banda Sinfónica Municipal de Madrid". Archived from the original on 5 October 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2007. One of Madrid's most pleasant summer traditions is that of band music in the Parque de el Retiro. The Banda Sinfónica de Madrid gather in the handsome bandstand close to the Calle de Alcalá every Sunday lunchtime between late May and early October to present varied repertoire extending from Albéniz and Granados through Shostakovich to zarzuela selections and popular pasodobles.
  8. ↑ "Things to do in Retiro Park". 15 February 2021. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  9. ↑ "Madrid Free Events: Fiesta de San Isidro (14/05/2012)". Madrid Sensations Tours. 13 May 2012. Archived from the original on 11 October 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  10. 1 2 3 "RETIRO". madridinfantil.com. Archived from the original on 2014-10-11.
  11. ↑ "Un gimnasio al aire libre para mayores". elmundo.es. Archived from the original on 2014-10-12. Retrieved 2014-10-07.
  12. ↑ "Actividad - Gymkana cultural en el Retiro -". museoreinasofia.es. Archived from the original on 2014-10-12. Retrieved 2014-10-07.
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