Buen Retiro Park

In 1630, Philip IV began the construction of the Buen Retiro Palace, near the Los Jerónimos Royal Monastery on land ceded by the Count-Duke of Olivares. Throughout their nearly 400 years of history, the gardens and the park have witnessed many events and have suffered vicissitudes of all types, ranging from the celebration of major festivals and theatre performances to neglect and destruction in the times of the War of Independence. A large part of the land was split off and sold in 1865, and in 1868 the park finally became the property of the city of Madrid. Some of its most noteworthy features are the lake with a monument to Alfonso XII, the Casa de Velázquez and the Crystal Palace, the rose garden and the parterre, which has one of the oldest trees in Madrid, the Montezuma cypress (Taxodium mucronatum).