ROYAL PALACE
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The 3,000 rooms of the Royal Palace are an unmissable visit to a Madrid getaway. A palace in all its splendour!
The beauty of this building lies mainly in the brilliance of its stones, white stone and granite, and the perfect quadrilateral formed by its facades. The king no longer resides here, but holds certain official visits. The entrance is opposite the magnificent Almudena Cathedral and promises a superb journey through Spanish history thanks to a palace with no less than 3,000 rooms. Once occupied by a royal wooden fortress, the Alcazar, built during the period of Arab domination, burned down in 1734 along with more than 300 works by Dürer, Rubens, Van Dyck, Titian and Velázquez, the site was reused four years later for the construction of the new palace, this time in stone. Philip V, the first king of Spain to descend from a Bourbon (he was the grandson of Louis XIV), took advantage of the opportunity to rebuild a palace more to his taste: he preferred Versailles to the wooden Alcazar! The Italian Juan Bautista Sachetti was commissioned to define the shape of the palace, while the architects Ventura Rodríguez and Francisco Sabatini took charge of its construction. The neoclassical building stands on a promontory overlooking the Manzanares River. The rather austere façade contrasts with the interior of the palace, which has Baroque-style rooms. Works by Rubens, Caravaggio, Goya, Velázquez, El Greco, a vast collection of Flemish and Spanish tapestries, sculptures and clocks adorn the interior. Its gardens and exteriors are magnificent and worth a visit. Do not miss the changing of the guard.
Bon plan : la gratuité en fin de journée sur semaine. Il y a un peu de monde, mais au final, la visite se fait quand même.
Si vous êtes à Madrid le premier mercredi du mois, pensez à la relève de la garde. Moins connu qu'à Londres, l'évènement vaut le détour. Vous pouvez y assister depuis la cour du château, mais aussi depuis le parvis.
Il faut impérativement prendre un audioguide car il est très riche en photos et en commentaires, ce qui permet de mieux comprendre la visite
Un conseil: acheter ses billets sur internet pour éviter la queue interminable devant l'entrée
Grosse file même en septembre devant l'entrée. La solution consiste à acheter les billets en ligne avant de s'y rendre.