The story
On Christmas Eve 1734 a fire broke out in the old Alcázar of Madrid, the Habsburg fortress-palace on this ridge above the Manzanares river, and it burned for four days. Hundreds of paintings from the royal collection were lost, and many that survived were thrown from the windows to save them. Philip V, the first Bourbon king of Spain, chose to build the replacement on the same spot, in stone and brick, with as little timber as possible.
The Italian architect Filippo Juvarra drew the first plans and died in 1736. His pupil Giovanni Battista Sacchetti reworked the design to fit the site, and building began in 1738. The first king to live here was Charles III, who moved in in 1764. It is still the official residence of the Spanish crown, although the royal family lives at the smaller Zarzuela Palace outside the city and uses this one for state ceremonies.
Visitors walk through the state rooms, among them the Throne Room hung with crimson velvet, and can cross the courtyard to the Royal Armoury. The palace collection includes Goya's portrait of Charles IV dressed for the hunt, painted in 1799, and Christ Carrying the Cross by Hieronymus Bosch, the Netherlandish painter of fantastical visions, a panel long held by the Spanish crown. Since 2023 many royal pictures are shown in the new Royal Collections Gallery, built into the slope beside the palace.
