The Palacio de Cristal in Madrid's Buen Retiro Park

The Glass Palace, also known as Palacio de Cristal, is a 19th-century conservatory located in Madrid's Buen Retiro Park, Spain. It is currently used for art exhibitions. The structure is shaped like a Greek cross and is made almost entirely of glass set in an iron framework on a brick base decorated with ceramics. Its cupola makes the structure over 22 metres high.

When it was erected, glass and iron construction on a large scale was already seen in Madrid at Delicias station. However, the curved architecture of the Palacio de Cristal is more comparable to the techniques pioneered by British architects Joseph Paxton, who was responsible for London's Crystal Palace, and Decimus Burton, who was responsible for the Palm House at Kew Gardens. The Palacio de Cristal was, alongside the Pabellón Central, one of the main venues of the 1887 Philippines Exposition.

The cast-iron frame was manufactured in Bilbao. Although the structure was designed in a way that would allow it to be re-erected on another site, it has remained on the original site next to a lake and has been restored to its original appearance. It is no longer used as a greenhouse and belongs to the Reina Sofía Museum as one of its temporary exposition centres.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons