Palacio de Cristal

The Palacio de Cristal was built for the General Exhibition of the Philippine Islands, held in the Retiro in 1887 when the archipelago was still a Spanish colony. Ricardo Velázquez Bosco designed it; the engineer Alberto de Palacio Elissagüe calculated the structure, the contractor Bernardo Asins assembled it, and the brothers Germán and Daniel Zuloaga supplied the ceramic decoration. Prefabrication allowed the whole building to go up in less than five months. It was meant to display Philippine plants, but the exhibition also staged something now openly condemned: the public display of people brought from the islands, regarded as Spain's first 'human zoo'.

Conceived as a permanent structure, possibly a future overseas museum, the pavilion went on to serve many purposes. In May 1936 its glass walls were hung with curtains so that it could host the assembly that elected Manuel Azaña President of the Republic. Protected as Spanish heritage since 1935, it was repaired after the Civil War and restored in 1975 under Ángeles Hernández-Rubio; a further campaign in 1994–1998, led by José de la Dehesa, accompanied its transfer to the Museo Reina Sofía, which uses it for temporary exhibitions. Since 2021 it has formed part of the UNESCO World Heritage property 'Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro'.

In May 2023 pieces falling from the structure forced its closure. After emergency shoring, a full restoration of the ironwork and glazing, budgeted at nearly €7.5 million, got under way, with reopening scheduled for 2027.

The building follows a Greek-cross plan, its crossing crowned by a glazed dome; its height runs from just over 22 metres to 24 metres, depending on whether the vault or the top of the dome is measured. A Bilbao-made iron frame carries a skin that is almost entirely glass, set on a stone and brick plinth enlivened by the Zuloagas' glazed ceramic friezes. The prefabricated components that made such rapid construction possible also meant the pavilion could, in principle, be taken down and re-erected.

Its lineage runs back to the great British iron-and-glass buildings, Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace and Decimus Burton's Palm House at Kew, and it is often described as Spain's most significant contribution to that tradition. The interior encloses roughly 13,000 cubic metres. Such transparency has its drawbacks: summer temperatures inside can reach 50 °C, and condensation and corrosion lie behind the current works, which include replacing some 5,000 panes of glass.

The Palacio de Cristal no longer houses plants. In 1887 it displayed tropical vegetation from the Philippines; today it is an empty, light-filled hall that the Museo Reina Sofía hands over to contemporary artists, often for installations made specifically for the space.

During the restoration the museum has turned the building's protective wrapping into a canvas. A large photographic frieze by Miguel Ángel Tornero, assembled from images of Madrid, came first; in 2026 the Peruvian artist Andrea Canepa wrapped the palace in coloured fabric inspired by the pre-Columbian textiles of Paracas, a work titled 'Fardo'.

The greenery is now outdoors: horse chestnuts ring the palace, and its artificial pond is home to ducks, geese and turtles.

The palace stands in the middle of the Retiro, south of the large boating lake, beside its own small pond and a short walk from the Palacio de Velázquez, the Reina Sofía's other venue in the park. While it is closed for restoration it can still be seen from outside until the planned reopening in 2027, and the artworks covering the scaffolding are worth the walk in themselves. When open, the exhibitions are free. An hour covers the palace and its surroundings, easily combined with a longer stroll through the Retiro and the museums of the Paseo del Prado beyond.