EAE News
Anecdotes and monuments reveal the history of Madrid's Retiro Park
20 de September de 2018
The students of EAE Business School took a guided tour of Madrid's emblematic Retiro Park, walking around some of the most iconic sites, such as the Great Lake, the Crystal Palace, the Rosaleda and the Casa de Fieras.
Berta gave the EAE students an overview of some of the Park's most emblematic spots. Known as the "King's good retreat", the city's most historic gardens cover an area of 188 hectares. The tour began at the gate of the Plaza de la Independencia, near to the Puerta de Alcalá gate. Founded by and for the kings of the 17th Century (1640), the Retiro Park was a place for leisure, recreation and entertainment. To build the Park, the King's right-hand man, the Count Duke of Olivares, purchased land for King Felipe IV, which covered around half the area of the city of Madrid. In 1868, during the reign of Isabel II, the Park's nine gates were opened to the public.
The Great Lake, the main part of the Retiro Park, covers the same area as the original one from the 17th Century. Initially, the lake was created to hold theatrical performances. There was an island in the middle and people punted across in gondolas imported from Naples. In the 19th Century, under the reign of Fernando VII, it was converted into a place for mooring boats and fishing. The Alfonso XII equestrian monument towers high over the park. It was designed by José Grases Riera and the sculpture was made by Mariano Benlliure y Gil, a leading figure of the Spanish realism movement.
This is not the first cultural tour with EAE for Irene Martínez Margallo and Edgar Sambrano, classmates on the Master in Project Management. The students always took part in the guided tour along Gran Vía. For Irene in particular, who comes from Madrid, it has been wonderful "to discover things about my own city that I had no idea about".
Berta went on to explain that the Park is home to the oldest tree in Madrid, dating back to the 17th Century. The grand old Montezuma cypress, Mexico's national tree, can be found in the Parterre, a French-style garden with pruned trees set out in a geometric design. To reach this part of the Park, the group was taken along the Paseo de las Estatuas, an avenue of statues of the Spanish monarchs created to decorate the cornices of Madrid's Royal Palace, but they never reached their destination.
Maritza Chuquirima, a student on the Master in Project Management, has also visited the Prado and Sorolla Museums with EAE. This is her fourth tour, but she would have liked to take part in even more, but was unable to due to the timetable or availability. "This is a really interesting initiative because you have the opportunity to network with people taking other masters and get to know more about Madrid's culture". Maritza plans to go back to her country to put everything she has learned on the Master into practice.
Now used as exhibition halls affiliated to the Reina Sofía Museum, the Velázquez Palace and Crystal Palace were designed by the architect Ricardo Velázquez Bosco, with a combination of iron arches and glass with decorated tiles from the Royal Factory of La Moncloa. The same elements also decorate the brilliant structure of the Crystal Palace, a superb example of iron architecture, build in 1887 to house the Exhibition of the Flora from The Philippine Islands.
Carolina Gutiérrez, a student on the Master in HR Management, and Yesenia Martínez, a student on the Master in Project Management, observed the statue of the Fallen Angel sculpted by Ricardo Bellver with admiration. Although it is notorious for being the only sculpture in the world that depicts the devil, Berta revealed that there is another one in Turin. The statue stands in the site of the former porcelain factory, which was destroyed in the War of Independence in 1813, of which the Ferris Wheel remains standing to this day.
More than 5,000 rose bushes make up the Rosaleda (Rose Garden), created in 1915 by Cecilio Rodríguez, the City's Chief Gardener. The tour then took the participants along the Paseo de Coches, an old avenue for carriages, which is now lined with the emblematic strawberry trees, a symbol of the city of Madrid alongside the bear which, as a point of interest, is female.
For Deycy Calderón, a student on the Master in Financial Management, it is the first time that she has been on a guided tour, although she has been at the School since April. Pleased with the initiative, she is currently preparing for her examinations and is hoping to do an internship afterwards.
EAE's guided tour finished off in the Cecilio Rodríguez Gardens, which date back to 1940 and where we can find the Seagull Fountain, with its columns, perfectly trimmed hedges and peacocks strutting around. The last place the students visited in the Park was the Casa de Fieras, which used to be Madrid's zoo. Destroyed in the Civil War, the space has been converted into a public library.