Paris1972-Versailles2003

If you have followed my blog, you know my attachment to Madrid, and my history there so do not need to repeat me think. If you have not and new to my blog just go to search type Retiro and/or Madrid and see the many posts on it. From Madrid to heaven and a hole in the sky to look down on it everyday. The focus here is something folks hidden somewhat inside the wonderfully beautiful Parque del Buen Retiro or simply Retiro park in my dear Madrid. The park is very near where I used to lived and walk by it everytime in the city. This is my park, Parque del Buen Retiro I always look forward to be back,eventually, For now let me tell you about the former Royal Porcelain Factory of Madrid !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.

You need to see the wonderful remains of the Real Fabrica de Porcelanas (1760-1812). In 2010, the underground works in the area known as the «las Estufas»  or boilers, it was discovered two tunnels of bricks of unknown origins; a canalization of water from Arabic time around the 10C, part of the installation of the Royal Porcelain Factory of the reign of Carlos III and the trenches fortifications of the Napoleonic troops or of the Spanish Civil War are some of the thesis for these tunnels.  

The Royal Porcelain Factory of the Parque del Buen Retiro was one of the real manufactures of luxury products that promoted the mercantilist policy of the Spanish Enlightenment. Its quality was internationally recognized, and its manufacturing techniques were maintained as a state secret. The factory was built in the gardens of the Retiro park host the real factory in what today called the Huerto del Francés or garden of the French and taking advantage of the ancient hermitage of San Antonio de los Portuguese (17C), which had suffered a great fire and whose interior was completely restored to house the Royal Porcelain Factory. The La Noria del Huerto del Francés vestiges of something wonderful here; this one of the machine that took the water to make the porcelain, and they are of Persian origins.

The Retiro park was, then, the fortress of Napoleon, who took it in 1810 after intense bombings and made it a star -shaped bunker whose heart was the hermetic porcelain factory. In August 1812, in what is known as the battle of the Retiro, the English allies occupied the fortress, the same day of the taking it by the English, the Duke of Wellington gave the order that, once the troops abandoned the fort, destroyed all the fortifications of the Retiro, General Hill rigorously fulfilled Wellington’s instructions on October 31, 1812, After the war, Fernando VII created the Royal Factory of La Moncloa, in 1818, which closed in the mid -17C. And in 1935, Francisco Alcántara founded in its place the Ceramic School, which are currently two administratively speaking schools, one municipal and one national, but ultimately form one.

Most of the porcelain of ‘La China’ or chinese as it is known the Royal Porcelain Factory continues to be seen and shown in the Royal Palace of Madrid and the Royal Sites, such as the Casita del Príncipe of the Monastery of El Escorial have fully decorated rooms with porcelain of the Retiro site. The top work of this school was the porcelain cabinet of the Palacio de Aranjuez, in addition, there are 1,454 porcelain pieces of the Retiro site distributed throughout the world, especially in Great Britain, USA and France.

More info from the Cervantes Virtual Center of the Institute Cervantes on the Royal Porcelain Factory : https://cvc.cervantes.es/ACTCULT/patrimonio/ceramica/buen_retiro/caracteristicas_generales.htm

The official Prado museum on some of the works of the Royal Porcelain Factory : https://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/artista/real-fabrica-de-porcelana-del-buen-retiro/6ad0e2a2-df27-46d8-87f8-628c1d926dea

The Madrid tourist office on the Noria del Huerto del Francés : https://www.esmadrid.com/en/tourist-information/noria-agua-retiro

There you go folks, my park in Madrid. A must to see in Madrid, in fact , you never been to Madrid if not walk the Retiro park… ! Again, hope you enjoy this off the beaten path trip to the former Real Fàbrica de Porcelana of Madrid as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health and many cheers to all !!!