The Palacio de Velázquez
Ricardo Velázquez Bosco, architect; ceramics by Daniel Zuloaga (Velázquez Bosco 1843 to 1923; Zuloaga 1852 to 1921) · 1881 to 1883
A few minutes' walk through the trees brings you to the older sister of the glass pavilion, a long hall of red brick with arched windows, bands of glazed tiles in blue, white and gold, and a roof of iron and glass. It was built between 1881 and 1883 for the National Exhibition of Mining, Metallurgy, Ceramics and Glass, and it takes its name not from the painter but from its architect, Ricardo Velázquez Bosco, who went on to build the Palacio de Cristal four years later. The two buildings are a pair: one solid and one transparent, both by the same hand, both born of the exhibitions that Madrid staged in the park in the eighteen eighties.
Look at the facade before you go in. The tiles are by Daniel Zuloaga, the same ceramicist who decorated the base of the glass pavilion, and they carry garlands, medallions and the emblems of industry in colours that have hardly faded. The brickwork is laid in decorative patterns in the manner of the Mudejar tradition, the Spanish style of Moorish inspired brick and tile, translated into the vocabulary of the industrial age. Inside, the hall is a single high space lit from above through glass vaults, with iron columns, and it was designed so that heavy machinery and furnaces could be displayed under natural light.
Since the nineteen eighties the Palacio de Velázquez has been used by the Reina Sofía for temporary exhibitions, usually of a single contemporary artist, and admission is free. The programme changes two or three times a year, so a visit can bring painting, sculpture, video or a large installation. A memorable detail is the pair of stone staircases and terraces at the entrance, which once received exhibition crowds arriving by carriage and now serve as a favourite place for park visitors to sit in the shade.
Did You Know? The building is named after its architect Ricardo Velázquez Bosco, not the painter Diego Velázquez, a confusion that catches out many visitors.
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