Introduction
In the Spanish Navy Square, called Plaza de la Marina Española, we will come across the Senate Palace. It houses the Spanish Senate. It is the upper house of Spain’s bicameral parliament. The lower chamber is the 🔗 Congress of Deputies. The building dates to the 16th century. Previously, it housed the most prominent institution of the capital, the Colegio de la Encarnación de Madrid – the seminary of the Order of St. Augustine. In the church of the seminary there were several masterpieces by El – Greco. The most precious one was the Retablo of Doña María de Aragón, consisting most probably of 7 works by the painter. It was named in honour of a lady who was a benefactor of the order – Mary of Aragon, a lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne of Austria, wife of Philip II. Currently, 5 of these works are in the 🔗 Prado Museum, one is in the National Art Museum in Bucharest, and one is considered lost. The seminary was closed by decree of Joseph Bonaparte around 1808. It was a period when the number of monasteries in Spain was intensively reduced, and religious orders were dissolved.
In 1814 and intermittently in the following years, the building was the meeting place of the Cortes of Cádiz, the first official parliament of Spain, and the priceless retablo was dismantled. In 1835, with the approval of the Royal Charter of 1834, the Cortes General was established as a bicameral parliament and the building became the official seat of political institutions and remains so to this day. On the square in front of the Senate stands a monument dedicated to the Spanish politician, several times prime minister, co-author of the Constitution of 1876 – Antonio Cánovas del Castillo.
The Senate Palace can also be viewed in the video below.
Planner
metro: Plaza de España (L2, L3, L10)
Visits are free and only with a Spanish guide. 🌐 On-line booking in advanced is required. Except the days of the Senate’s deliberations.