{{Short description|Urban park in Madrid, Spain}} {{Use Oxford English|date=November 2024}}<!-- use serial commas, British english --> {{Infobox park | name = Retiro Park | native_name = {{Lang|es|Parque del Buen Retiro|italic=no}} | image = MADRID 051116 MXALX 041.jpg | image_alt = | image_caption = | type = | location = Madrid, Spain | coordinates = {{coords|40|24|54|N|03|41|02|W|type:landmark_region:ES_dim:2000|display=inline,title}} | area = {{cvt|142|hectare|acre}} | created = 1680 | operator = City Council of Madrid | visitation_num = | status = Public park | designation = | open = | embedded = {{Infobox designation list | embed = yes | designation1 = WHS | designation1_partof = Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro, a landscape of Arts and Sciences | designation1_date = 2021 {{small|(44th session)}} | designation1_number = [https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1618 1618] | designation1_criteria = {{UNESCO WHS type|(ii), (iv), (vi)}}(ii), (iv), (vi) | designation1_free1name = Region | designation1_free1value = Europe and North America | designation2 = Spain | designation2_type = Non-movable | designation2_criteria = Historic Garden | designation2_date = 8 February 1935 | designation2_number = RI-52-0000015 }} }}

The '''Retiro Park''' (Spanish: {{Lang|es|Parque del Buen Retiro}}, "Good Retreat Park"), also known as '''Buen Retiro Park''' or simply '''El Retiro''', is one of the largest city parks in Madrid, Spain. The park belonged to the Spanish monarchy until 1868, when it became a public park following the Glorious Revolution. The park is located at the edge of the city centre, near both the Alcalá Gate and the Museo del Prado, and covers {{cvt|1.4|km²|acre}}. It has gardens, monuments, galleries, an artificial lake, and event-hosting venues. In 2021, Buen Retiro Park became part of a combined UNESCO World Heritage Site that also includes Paseo del Prado.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/unesco-grants-world-heritage-status-madrids-paseo-del-prado-retiro-park-2021-07-25/ |title=UNESCO grants world heritage status to Madrid's Paseo del Prado and Retiro Park |website=Reuters |date=25 July 2021 |access-date=28 July 2021 |archive-date=28 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210728015527/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/unesco-grants-world-heritage-status-madrids-paseo-del-prado-retiro-park-2021-07-25/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==History== thumb|left|The old Buen Retiro Palace with the gardens In 1505, the Jeronimites' monastery was moved to a new Isabelline Gothic-style building at the present-day site of the Church of Saint Jerome the Royal. The royal family had a retreat built as part of the new church. King Philip II (ruled 1556–1598) moved the Spanish court to Madrid in 1561. Philip had the Retiro enlarged under the direction of his architect Juan Bautista de Toledo, who also formally laid out tree-lined avenues.

The gardens were extended in the 1620s, when Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares, gave the king several tracts of adjacent land for the court's recreational use. Olivares, with the king's permission, drew up plans for a royal residence far more grand than the existing villas, which had been built for Roman nobles.{{cn|date=May 2024}} Although this second royal residence was to be built in what were then outlying areas of Madrid, it would also be in an ideal location, not far from the existing alcázar. In the 1630s, the palace buildings were constructed under the supervision of the architects Giovanni Battista Crescenzi and Alonso Carbonell. Two of the buildings remain today: the Casón del Buen Retiro, which served as a ballroom, and the Hall of Realms.<ref>The creation of Buen Retiro is described in Jonathan Brown and J. H. Elliott, ''A Palace for a King: the Buen Retiro and the Court of Philip IV'', 2003.</ref>

The Count-Duke of Olivares commissioned the park in the 1630s. It was designed by Cosimo Lotti, a landscaper and engineer who had previously worked on the layout of the Boboli Gardens. The layout of the gardens were defined by key water features, including the great pond, the great canal, the narrow channel, and the chamfered (or bellflower) pond. Buen Retiro became the center of Habsburg court life for much of the Spanish Golden Age. During the reigns of Philip IV and Charles II, several plays were performed in the park for the royal family and the court.{{cn|date=May 2024}}

thumb|Paseo de la Argentina thumb|Lake, boats, and the Alfonso XII monument

The gardens were initially neglected after the death of Philip IV in 1665, but have been restored and changed on many occasions.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gardenvisit.com/garden/parque_del_buen_retiro |title=Parque del Buen Retiro |work=gardenvisit.com |access-date=2008-03-26 |archive-date=2008-03-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080318044335/http://www.gardenvisit.com/garden/parque_del_buen_retiro |url-status=live }}</ref> Philip V ordered the creation of a parterre, the only French-style garden in the complex. During the reign of Ferdinand VI, Buen Retiro was the setting for Italian operas. Charles III ({{reign|1759|1788}}) ordered the replacement of the old walls with wrought-iron railings. The Buen Retiro Palace was used until the era of Charles III. Juan de Villanueva's Astronomical Observatory was built during the reign of Charles IV ({{reign|1788|1808}}).

Most of the palace and its gardens were destroyed during the Peninsular War (1807–1814) when the troops of the First French Empire built the Citadel of Madrid on park grounds. The park went through many changes during Queen Isabella II's reign. More trees were planted and previously unplanted areas were landscaped. In 1868, when Queen Isabella was overthrown in the Glorious Revolution, the gardens became publicly-owned.{{cn|date=May 2024}}

In 1883, the park hosted the Exposición Nacional de Minería. 14 hectares of the park served as fairgrounds of the 1887 Philippines Exposition, which included a human zoo.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZhAVmkRxoA0C&pg=PA70 |title=Un imperio en la vitrina: el colonialismo español en el Pacífico y la exposición de Filipinas de 1887 |first=Luis Ángel |last=Sánchez Gómez |year=2003 |publisher=Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas |isbn=84-00-08190-0 |pages=69–70 |location=Madrid |access-date=2021-11-18 |archive-date=2022-06-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606050929/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZhAVmkRxoA0C&pg=PA70 |url-status=live }}</ref> At the beginning of the 20th century, the Monument to Alfonso XII of Spain, designed by José Grases Riera, was built next to the pond. Countless statues, fountains and commemorative monuments have filled the park, converting it into an open-air sculpture museum. New gardens were created during the 1930s and 1940s, attributed to Chief Gardener Cecilio Rodriguez, who also built the rose garden.{{cn|date=May 2024}}

==Features== thumb|''Rosaleda'' (rose garden) thumb|Casita del Pescador

Close to the northern entrance of the park is the {{lang|es|Estanque del Retiro}} (Retirement Pond), a large artificial pond. Nearby is the monument to King Alfonso XII, featuring a semicircular colonnade and an equestrian statue of the monarch on top of a tall central core.

The {{lang|es|Rosaleda}} (Rose Garden) is an early 20th-century feature inspired by the Bagatelle rose garden in the Bois de Boulogne. Beside the roses stands the Fountain of the Fallen Angel, erected in 1922, whose main sculpture ''El Angel Caído'' is a work by Ricardo Bellver (1845–1924) inspired by a passage from John Milton's ''Paradise Lost'',<ref name="Milton">''Catálogo de la Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes'' ("''Catalogue of the National Fine Arts Exhibition''"), Madrid, 1878, p. 86-87. Also mentioned, among others, by professor Carlos Reyero in his book ''Escultura, museo y estado en la España del siglo XIX: historia, significado y catálogo de la colección nacional de escultura moderna, 1856-1906'', Alicante, 2002, {{ISBN|84-931949-6-4}}.</ref> which represents Lucifer falling from Heaven. It is claimed that this statue is the only known public monument of Satan.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/madrid-enjoys-the-devil-of-a-row-over-a-fallen-angel-1157515.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/madrid-enjoys-the-devil-of-a-row-over-a-fallen-angel-1157515.html |archive-date=2022-05-25 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Madrid enjoys the devil of a row over a fallen angel |work=The Independent |access-date= 2013-08-30 |date=1998-05-27}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=Citation is over 25 years old and is a non-comprehensive newspaper article.|date=May 2024}} The few remaining buildings of the Buen Retiro Palace, including Casón del Buen Retiro and the Salon de Reinos, now house museum collections. The Casón has a collection of 19th- and 20th-century paintings, including art by the Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla.

Since assuming its role as a public park in the late 19th century, Buen Retiro Park has been used as a venue for various international exhibitions. Several themed buildings have remained as a testament to such events, including the Mining Building, popularly known as the Velázquez Palace (1884) by architect Ricardo Velázquez Bosco, who designed the ''Palacio de Cristal'' (Crystal Palace), a glass pavilion inspired by The Crystal Palace in London, undoubtedly the gardens' most extraordinary building. Built along with its artificial pond in 1887 for the Philippine Islands Exhibitions, the Palacio de Cristal was first used to display flower species indigenous to the archipelago. The landscape-style gardens in the former ''Campo Grande'' are also a reminder of the international exhibitions that have taken place here in the past.

The Paseo de la Argentina, also known as ''Paseo de las Estatuas'' (Statue Walk), is decorated with some of the statues of kings from the Royal Palace, sculpted between 1750 and 1753. There are art galleries in the Crystal Palace, Palacio de Velázquez and ''Casa de Vacas''. Also in the Retiro Park is the Forest of Remembrance ({{lang|es|Bosque del recuerdo}}), a memorial monument to commemorate the 191 victims of the 2004 Madrid train bombings.

==Activities== [[File:MADRID 051023 MXALX 033.jpg|thumb|270px|left|Crystal Palace in Retiro Park]] thumb|Sunset in Retiro Every Sunday from late May through early October,<ref name="WebberReviewBandaSinfonica">{{cite web |url=http://www.zarzuela.net/ref/reviews/banda_0605.htm |title=Banda Sinfónica Municipal de Madrid |author=Christopher Webber |date=21 May 2006 |quote=One of Madrid's most pleasant summer traditions is that of band music in the Parque de el Retiro. The Banda Sinfónica de Madrid gather in the handsome bandstand close to the Calle de Alcalá every Sunday lunchtime between late May and early October to present varied repertoire extending from Albéniz and Granados through Shostakovich to zarzuela selections and popular pasodobles. |access-date=28 October 2007 |archive-date=5 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201005020358/http://www.zarzuela.net/ref/reviews/banda_0605.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> the Banda Sinfónica de Madrid gives free midday concerts from the bandstand in the park near the Calle de Alcalá. Manuel Lillo Torregrosa composed ''Kiosko del Retiro'' for this bandstand.{{cn|date=May 2024}} The park features an annual Book Fair where people can drop off or sell their used books, magazines, or newspapers.<ref>{{cite web |author= |title=Things to do in Retiro Park |date=15 February 2021 |url=https://www.teachenglishmadrid.com/retiro-park-madrid/ |url-status=live |access-date=14 April 2021 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414174050/https://www.teachenglishmadrid.com/retiro-park-madrid/ }}</ref> Events throughout the year include concerts, firework shows, and holiday festivals, and cultural events.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.madridsensations.com/madrid-free-isidro/ |title=Madrid Free Events: Fiesta de San Isidro (14/05/2012) |work=Madrid Sensations Tours |date=13 May 2012 |access-date=7 October 2014 |archive-date=11 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141011154823/http://www.madridsensations.com/madrid-free-isidro/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Madrid Infantil">{{cite web |url=http://www.madridinfantil.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=29:retiro&layout=blog&Itemid=167 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141011162544/http://www.madridinfantil.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=29:retiro&layout=blog&Itemid=167 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=2014-10-11 |title=RETIRO |work=madridinfantil.com}}</ref>

Retiro Park has specific outdoor exercise areas for young and old people.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2007/11/05/videos/1194276479.html |title=Un gimnasio al aire libre para mayores |work=elmundo.es |access-date=2014-10-07 |archive-date=2014-10-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012090756/http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2007/11/05/videos/1194276479.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The elderly exercise area includes stretching equipment and bicycle pedals. The youth area includes bars for triceps dips, pull-ups, and sit-ups, as well as large stones that locals have brought to use as weights.

Around the Retiro Pond lake, many puppet shows, street performers, and fortune tellers perform. Rowing boats can be rented to paddle around the Estanque, and horse-drawn carriages are available. Retiro is home to multiple city-managed sports courts<ref name="Madrid Infantil" /> and several playground areas.<ref name="Madrid Infantil" /> The inside of the Palacio de Cristal has been modified to include a stone slide.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.museoreinasofia.es/actividades/gymkana-cultural-retiro |title=Actividad - Gymkana cultural en el Retiro - |work=museoreinasofia.es |access-date=2014-10-07 |archive-date=2014-10-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012234624/http://www.museoreinasofia.es/actividades/gymkana-cultural-retiro |url-status=live }}</ref> Major paths and walkways in the park are used by families, runners, bikers and rollerbladers.

== Gallery == <gallery> Retiro Park - Ahuehuete.jpg|Centennial ahuehuete in winter Retiro Park - Olive Tree.jpg|An olive planted in 2023, estimated to be 627 years old<ref>{{cite web |title=Un olivo de 627 años se convierte en el árbol más ‘anciano’ de El Retiro |url=https://diario.madrid.es/blog/notas-de-prensa/un-olivo-de-627-anos-se-convierte-en-el-arbol-mas-anciano-de-el-retiro/ |publisher=Ayuntamiento de Madrid |access-date=21 February 2025}}</ref> Retiro Park Statues - Hercules and Lion.jpg|Statue of Hercules and the Nemean lion Retiro Park Statues - Monument to Martinez Campos.jpg|Monument to Arsenio Martínez Campos Madrid - Retiro Park (2687096446).jpg|Row boats in 1968 Monument to Alfonso XII of Spain 2025 east side.jpg|Monument to Alfonso XII Fuente del Ángel Caído 2025.jpg|Fountain of the Fallen Angel </gallery>

==See also== *Real Fábrica del Buen Retiro

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Parque del Buen Retiro}} *[http://www.gardenvisit.com/history_theory/library_online_ebooks/ml_gothein_history_garden_art_design/buen_retiro_park_madrid Parque del Buen Retiro — a Gardens Guide history] *[https://artsandculture.google.com/story/sgVBDvc10xw7hA Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro, a landscape of Arts and Sciences] UNESCO collection on Google Arts and Culture *[http://www.ctspanish.com/maps/retiro.htm The park's entry in a Walking Tour of Madrid]

{{World Heritage Sites in Spain}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buen Retiro, Parque Del}} Category:Parks in Madrid Category:Buen Retiro Park Category:Art gallery districts Category:Calle de Alcalá Category:Urban public parks