Palace of Zarzuela

The Palacio de la Zarzuela ( palaθjo de la θaɾθwela, dt: Zarzuela Palace ) located on the northwestern outskirts of Madrid in the mountains of El Pardo. He is since 1962 the residence of the then Crown Prince and present King Juan Carlos and the Spanish royal family.

The name Zarzuela (German: " brambles " ) is derived from the field names of the landscape, in which the former hunting lodge was built. The zarzuela, a German Singspiel comparable Spanish musical theater genre takes its name was again where this form of music theater performed by the palace, for the first time.

History

It is a three-story unadorned building, which was in the 17th century, the brother of King Philip IV, Cardinal Don Fernando, build. In 1634 it was designed by Juan Gómez de Mora as a hunting flophouse and built to 1638 by Alonso Carbonell. Charles IV, it was in the 18th century remodel in the Rococo style. After damage in the Spanish Civil War, it was restored in 1960. In the basement are storage rooms and the kitchen on the ground floor, the office of the King and his staff, the library, the dining room and the visitors' room. The top floor accommodates guests and study. In the 1990s, two wings were added to the building. In one there are the private chambers of the royal family, in the other the administration and the security service. On the grounds of the palace there is also a chapel, sports facilities and a helipad. The palace is not open to the public.

Crown Prince Felipe inhabited since the summer of 2002 an own palace, which was built on the site of the Zarzuela Palace.