Part 57: Armor, Art, and Fountains Dec 27, 2012

Day 2 in Madrid started out with a trip to the Palacio Real (the Royal Palace).  The site the palace sits on has been in royal use since Muslim rulers in Toledo built a defensive structure known as the Royal Alcázar of Madrid there in the ninth century.  The Alcázar was updated and expanded by Spanish kings and officially became a royal palace when Madrid became Spain’s capital in the 16^th century.   It was used until it burned down on Christmas Eve in 1734.  (Alas, more fire)

Four years after the fire, construction on the current royal palace started.  It is the second largest royal palace in Europe after the Louvre (hey, it wasn't always a museum).  It was finished in 1755 and King Carlos III was the first king to officially start living there in 1764.  It is designed in the Hapsburg style (big and elaborate) since Spanish rulers were all mixed in with French and Austrian ones by then.

You enter the palace by coming into the huge courtyard in the back that overlooks the Cathedral.  I chose to tour the royal rooms first.  Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed, but this website has pictures of the entire inside.  The throne room was red with lots of gold.  I also saw a room completely covered in painted porcelain.  Other rooms had amazing raised moldings all around and the royal chapel, the dome of which is visible from the outside of the palace, was amazing.   Also on display in one room is the world’s only complete Stradivarius string quintet, which I was happy to see is sometimes actually used by musicians.

From the royal rooms I toured the armory.  I expected guns, crossbows, maybe some helmets and uniforms from different time periods, but I was wrong.  The armory holds hundreds of suits of armor.  Two floors of it.  Some armor comes from the 1400’s and the collection includes tournament pieces made for Charles V and Philip II and full battle armor made for Charles V.  There were children-sized suits and even suits made for women, which try as I might, I could not really find additional information on. 

The last part of the palace tour is the pharmacy.  It was amazing.  I wanted to break the no photo rule so badly!   Philip II started the royal pharmacy to supply medicine to the royal family.  This tradition continues today and the museum even holds portraits of all the royal pharmacists.  The pharmacy has painted drawers and pottery all labeled with different ingredients.  It was really cool. 

After the palace, I stopped for lunch before catching the metro over to the Reina Sofia Art Museum.  This museum was founded in 1992 by the current king and queen of Spain and is one of the most important modern art museums in the world.  I really do like some modern art.  I really hate others (see the top left picture: Great White by Gerardo Rueda, which is a picture I’m pretty sure anyone who has laid tile has recreated multiple times).  Overall, I really enjoyed this museum.  The most famous piece I saw was Guernica by Picasso, which he made to illustrate the horrors of the Spanish Civil War.  I also saw a few pieces by Dali, one of my favorite artists (along with Grant Wood.  I have weird diverse taste).  Additionally, I really liked the evil Snuffleupagus painting ,The Four Dictators, and anything done in black and white.   I also saw a film that shows a tree blowing in the wind and the only audio is a voice saying “tree” over and over again.  It was… different. 

From the Reina Sofia, I went to the Prado Musuem.  The Prado had free entry from 6-8 pm.  If you really want to look around, you’ll need more time than that.  The Prado has one of the greatest collections of paintings in the world and it is a large collection:   according to Wikipedia, they have 7,600 paintings, 1,000 sculptures, 4,800 prints and 8,200 drawings.   Only a fraction of these are ever on display due to lack of space. 

I was fine with free admission and limited time, so I joined the line to go in.  I decided to focus on the masterpieces listed in the museum map.  I really liked Descent from the Cross by Van Der Weyden.  It almost looks 3-D when you’re standing in front of it.  The Triumph of Death by Brueghel was creepy and full of symbols.  My favorite non-masterpieces were The Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in His Art Gallery at Brussels  and The Sciences and the Arts.  For some reason, I really like paintings that show other paintings in them. 

After the Prado closed, I walked up Paseo Del Prado towards Fuente de Neptuno, an amazing fountain dating from 1786.  Farther up the street, I encountered Cibeles Square.  This square includes the Fuente De Cibeles and the amazing Cibeles Palace.  This palace was actually built in 1909 as the headquarters of the postal service.  Now it is Madrid’s city hall.  Also located there is the Bank of Spain.  The most interesting thing I learned about this building is that before the invention of modern security systems, the gold storage room in the basement would be flooded with water from the fountain in case of danger. 

I then turned and walked down Gran Via, the main fancy shopping street.  It has many tall and impressive buildings and I was stared at for probably 10 minutes by the adorable baby I was following down the street.  He was really cute and his dad thought it was really funny how intently he was focused on me.  But then, I always have been a big hit with the under 1 crowd.   

To end the day, I grabbed a Starbucks turkey sandwich (ok, so I don't really travel for the food) and headed back to the hostel to eat and talk to my friends from the night before about their Madrid experiences.