Palace of Moncloa
A frescoed 17th-century estate that survived Bourbon kings and the Duchess of Alba, was leveled in the Spanish Civil War, and came back as the working home of Spain's Prime Minister.
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Three centuries of ownership — Marquis of Carpio, Duchess of Alba, Charles IV — before Civil War artillery flattened it. Rebuilt and handed to Adolfo Suárez in 1977, the compound is where the Council of Ministers meets every week. "Moncloa" is now the metonym the Spanish press uses for the entire central government.
What to look for
- Exterior walls once painted with frescoes — the reason the building was originally called the 'Painted House'
- A government campus of 16 buildings that also contains a bunker and a hospital
- The elevated position on the estate's highest ground, the deliberate choice of its 1660 builder
Puerta de Hierro Avenue, Moncloa-Aravaca district, Madrid. The palace is the Prime Minister's active official residence.
Palace of Moncloa is one of 31 sights worth the detour in Madrid, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Madrid pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Madrid
- BernabéuThe only stadium on earth to host both a UEFA Champions League final and a Copa Libertadores final — and the first in Europe to crown both a World Cup and a Euro.
- Museo del PradoThe Spanish royal collection — 7,600 paintings accumulated over centuries — opened to the public in November 1819 and never looked back.
- Metropolitano StadiumThe pitch that staged the 2019 Champions League final will host another in 2027 — and is shortlisted for the 2030 World Cup.
- Royal Palace of MadridThe original Alcázar burned to the ground on Christmas Eve 1734 — what the Bourbons built in its place is the largest palace in Western Europe.
- Museo Reina SofíaGuernica — Picasso's 1937 painting of wartime devastation — hangs here at full scale, in person.
- Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy)A duke's private library meeting in 1711 grew into the institution that still rules what counts as correct Spanish — for Spain and 22 other Spanish-speaking nations.