The Glass Palace

Here you are in front of the stunning Crystal Palace of Retiro Park. This enormous tropical greenhouse is truly a masterpiece of iron and glass architecture in Spain. Its architect, Ricardo Velázquez, was inspired by London’s Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, built about thirty years earlier for the Great Exhibition of 1851. Madrid’s own Glass Palace was also designed to host a colonial event—the 1887 Philippines Exhibition—organized to boost trade relations between the archipelago and Metropolitan Spain. These types of events were common in the 19th and early 20th centuries. France, which at the time had the second-largest colonial empire after the UK, also organized similar exhibitions to showcase aspects of its colonies to the public. The 1887 Madrid exhibition took inspiration from one held four years earlier in Amsterdam, and was divided into sections that included flora and fauna, agriculture, livestock, culture, and even the human population. Yes, that means indigenous people were brought by ship and presented in what were called human zoos, also known as ethnographic exhibitions. As shocking as it may sound today, this kind of display was unfortunately common for about fifty years, and the recreation of foreign villages was very popular. Ethical concerns and public criticism did exist from the start. Yet, the final exhibition of this kind will take place in 1940, in Lisbon. Back to our Crystal Palace—it was originally a tropical greenhouse used to display samples of Philippine flora. Whereas today, the building belongs to the Reina Sofia Museum. Entry is free, so come inside and enjoy the incredible natural light and decorations, including the beautifully restored ceramics by Daniel Zuloaga.