El Pardo
Encyclopedia
The Royal Palace of El Pardo is a historical building near Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, in the present-day district of Fuencarral-El Pardo. Owned by the Spanish state and administered by the Patrimonio Nacional
Patrimonio Nacional
The Consejo de Administración del Patrimonio Nacional is a Spanish state agency, under the jurisdiction of the Minister of the Presidency by delegation of the Prime Minister of Spain, that administers the sites owned by the Spanish...

 agency, the palace began as a hunting lodge.

Overview

It became an alternative residence of the kings of Spain until Alfonso XII, who died in the palace in 1885.

King Henry III of Castile
Henry III of Castile
Henry III KG , sometimes known as Henry the Sufferer or Henry the Infirm , was the son of John I and Eleanor of Aragon, and succeeded him as King of the Castilian Crown in 1390....

 ordered the building of the pavilion in 1406, on Mount El Pardo, because of its abundant game. Later, in the time of Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...

 (1547), it was transformed into a palace. On 13 March 1604, a massive fire destroyed many of the paintings, including masterpieces by Titian
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...

. Charles III
Charles III of Spain
Charles III was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788. He was the eldest son of Philip V of Spain and his second wife, the Princess Elisabeth Farnese...

 renovated the building in the 18th century, appointing his architect Francesco Sabatini
Francesco Sabatini
Francesco Sabatini , also known as Francisco Sabatini, was an Italian architect of the 18th century who worked in Spain.-Biography:Born in Palermo, he studied architecture in Rome...

 for the job. It was newly transformed in the 20th century, doubling its size by repeating to the east its original structure.

The interior decoration includes a ceiling frescoed by Gaspar Becerra
Gaspar Becerra
Gaspar Becerra was a Spanish painter and sculptor.-Biography:He was born at Baeza in Andalusia. He studied at Rome, it is said under Michelangelo, and assisted Giorgio Vasari in painting the hall of the Palazzo della Cancelleria. He also contributed to the anatomical plates of Juan Valverde de...

, and paintings by Vincenzo Carducci
Vincenzo Carducci
Vincenzo Carducci was an Italian painter.He was born in Florence, and was trained as a painter by his brother Bartolomeo, whom he followed to Madrid as a boy....

 and Cabrera.

In 1739 the palace hosted talks between the governments of Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...

 and Spain, who eventually agreed the Convention of Pardo
Convention of Pardo
The Convention of Pardo was a 1739 treaty between Great Britain and Spain designed to find a solution to the issues of smuggling, the Asiento and freedom of the seas that had strained relations between the two states for the past few decades, and was agreed to try to prevent war breaking out...

 in a bid to avert a war. However, the Convention failed to prevent war breaking out shortly afterwards
War of Jenkins' Ear
The War of Jenkins' Ear was a conflict between Great Britain and Spain that lasted from 1739 to 1748, with major operations largely ended by 1742. Its unusual name, coined by Thomas Carlyle in 1858, relates to Robert Jenkins, captain of a British merchant ship, who exhibited his severed ear in...

.

Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...

 lived in the palace after the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

. After Franco's death, it has been used as a residence for visiting heads of state.

The Palace of Zarzuela forms part of the complex of residences at the site.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK