Capricho de Reyes, refuge of cats and cradle of legends, the Artificial Mountain of the Retiro Park is one of those surviving rarities to a series of adversities along its history.
On the verge of being demolished several times, it can be said that this hill has more lives than one of those felines it shelters and which gave it the popular nickname of Mountain of Cats.
After 18 years of neglect, this mysterious building, located on the corner of O’Donnell Street and Menéndez Pelayo Avenue, will re-emerge like a phoenix starting tomorrow. This Monday they start rehabilitation workswhich will recover the original structure of this mountain, built in 1820 by Fernando VII for the enjoyment of his family and the nobility of the time.
GRAN MADRID was able to enter this emblematic building days before the start of the reformthanks to a visit organized by the Association of Friends of the Buen Retiro Gardens.
After crossing the metal fence that surrounds the hill, we find a pink facade with ceramic tiles representing marine figures. This title page has already been restored several times and will not be reformed now.
A narrow corridor leads to a huge vault hollow inside, measuring 14 meters in diameter and another 11 in height. The dome was built with brick and masonry, materials they imitated to the ancient medieval buildings of Madridexplains during the visit Santiago Soria, Deputy Director General of the Parks and Crèches of the Municipality of Madrid.
This large circular space was already used in the past as an exhibition hall and was partly decorated with stalactites as if it were a cave. Three other corridors departed from this room and ended in waterfalls, as the Artificial Mountain was surrounded by a pond.
The intention now of the Environment and Mobility Area is to recover all the external vegetation that surrounds this hill with its paths and jets of water and even put swans and fish back into the basin, as is currently the case with Crystal Palace Lake. The public toilets located at the entrance will also be rehabilitated, a request from Madrid residents given the lack of toilets in the park.
The Artificial Mountain is the best thing about the Retreat. It is a very complete work because in addition to the dome it has it with beautiful trails and good gardens. I walked when the waterfalls were there and it was very pleasant, explains Javier de la Puente, president of the Association of Friends of the Buen Retiro Gardens, which has been fighting to defend the artistic and botanical values of the park since 2018.
One of the legends surrounding this mountain is that there is a treasure inside. The story goes back to King Felipe IV, who loved to hide jewels in the Retiro to entertain the people of Madrid to look for and find them. But one day I decided to hide a larger casket full of jewels and ordered his gardener to hide it. Bad luck wanted the gardener to suddenly die without having revealed where the treasure was, according to Santiago Soria.
Over the years there have been various missions to find the jewelsthe last in 1957, when the area was swept with metal detectors for 15 days with little success.
However, years later, in 1968, and very close to the place, two workers were digging a tomb found 59 gold coins with the effigies of Carlos III, Carlos IV and Fernando VII, but it was not the treasure buried by Felipe IV.
glass dome
The reform that begins tomorrow provides for an investment of 2.6 million euros and will last seven months, so it should be completed around May 2023. The goal is for the main hall to become an exhibition space to be covered with a glass dome. act as a skylight and let light into the interior vault.
What will not recover is the temple that was on the top, used by the Kings as an observation point to contemplate the surrounding landscape. We must not forget that at that moment Madrid ended at the Puerta de Alcal, so from that roof you could see if the invading troops were arriving.
The Mountain has a very original structure, since it was a whim, they were small recreational buildings for the amusement of the nobility. For this reason they were rather extravagant constructions in which the artistic expression prevailed rather than the functional aspect.
The whims have been sent built by King Ferdinand VII at the end of the War of Independence in 1814. The conflict with the French left the Retiro Gardens in a rather dilapidated state and the monarch dedicated himself to promoting its recovery. What was not rehabilitated was the Palacio del Buen Retiro, built by Felipe IV, which was one of the largest palaces in all of Europe and of which only the Army Museum and the Casón del Buen Retiro currently remain.
King Ferdinand VII kept almost the entire enclosure open to the public, but assigned the land located in the north-east corner of the park for his personal use. In this area the monarch commissioned his architect Isidro Gonzlez Velzquez in 1817 the creation of its Reserved Gardenswhere the Artificial Mountain and the rest of the whims are located.
That’s why the park was dotted with the Fisherman’s House, the Smuggler’s House, that of the Poor (demolished in 1963), the Rustico burned, the Aviary, the Egyptian Fountain, the Seraglio and the pier- Currently only the Artificial Mountain has survived; Smuggler’s House, where the Florida Park nightclub is located; the ancient Casa de Fieras, transformed into the Eugenio Tras Municipal Library; the Fisherman’s House and the Egyptian Fountain.
Madrid will also be able to enjoy the Artificial Mountain next year when it opens to the public. The property has resisted numerous attacks, since in 1869, with the arrival of the First Republic, there was a plan to demolish it and build some luxury villas there, which was not achieved.
In the 1980s, with Juan Barranco as mayor, the possibility of demolishing it due to its deterioration was also considered. However, in the end the opposite was done and rehabilitation started to give it a cultural content. Once the works were completed, the premises were used as an exhibition gallery until 2002. Two years later, due to several landslides, it was decided to enclose the area until today.
In 2018 there was another failed attempt for the recovery of the mountain, since the competition to do so was deserted. Finally tomorrow the tasks that will restore the lost splendor to the mountain begin.
The danger of parking
These works will return an important part to the Retiro of its historical heritage. This is the most important of the called romantic whims foilswhich have their origin in Queen Mara Antonietta, says Antonello Dellanotte, creator of the Retiro Experience platform.
Dellanotte believes it from the Landscape of Light -which includes the Retiro and the Paseo del Prado-, has been declared a World Heritage Site, the Municipality of Madrid is investing more and more in the park and has rehabilitated the Paseo de México and the gardens of the Meteorological Observatory.
This is why he warns of the danger posed by the construction of a macro parking under the Nio Jess University Children’s Hospital, which includes 800 seats and has revolted the residents of the area. This parking could jeopardize the inclusion of the Retiro as a World Heritage Site because it will bring more traffic and more pollution to the neighborhood. Here you have to come by public transport. The idea is to remove the smoke, not to put it on, he concludes.
According to the criteria of
Learn more
