Reminding us of the famous Crystal Palace by Joseph Paxton, designed for the Great Exhibition in 1851 in Hyde Park, London, UK, the Palacio de Cristal in Madrid’s Buen Retiro Park looks a lot like its little brother. 
Thirty years after the construction of the Crystal Palace, in 1883, Ricardo Velazquez Bosco designed and built this palace in only five months for the Exposicion Nacional de Mineria. The Palacio has at least one advantage over its British counterpart: it still stands to this day and can be visited. 
Originally it was built to display the flora and fauna of the Philippines that at the time was still a Spanish colony. The exhibits were so numerous that they spilled out of the palace and were also set up in the garden. Today the building is mostly used for contemporary and modern art exhibitions.
The Buen Retiro Park is about 130 hectares of land that comprise a large variety of 15,000 trees. 
For more news about Madrid, Spain, and the magic of design and art, check out our post on Casa Decor.
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