The palace
Fire destroyed the former Habsburg Alcázar palace on 24 December 1734. The reconstruction work began only four years later under Philip V, who chose the design by the Italian architect Giambattista Sacchetti rather than the one initially submitted by his master architect Filippo Juvarra.
The idea was to build a palace whose architectural characteristics would embody the symbolic representation of power in fashion at the time and with a structure sound enough to be resistant to fire, the nightmare of Spanish palaces—a palace “for Eternity”, as the foundation stone states.
Some of the greatest fresco artists of the second half of the 18th century were actively involved in decorating the newly finished building. The work of Giaquinto, Tiepolo and Mengs thus had a decisive influence on shaping the aesthetic tastes of Spain of the period and introduced some of the formal topics of the European artistic debate.
Although the building work was finally completed in 1754, the New Palace was not inhabited by a king until a decade later. Charles III was the first to reside in the palace.
From then onwards the building’s architectural structure was progressively adapted to the monarchs’ distinct needs. It therefore reflects heterogeneous aesthetic concepts of palace decoration and architectural space.
It is with this in mind that we should interpret the many alterations carried out during the 19th century, such as the remodelling of the Throne Room and the Gala Dining Room, among others.