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El Capricho Park

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The lake in the park

The Parque de El Capricho is a park in Madrid. The name means "the folly" in Spanish. It was created by María Josefa Pimentel, Duchess of Osuna (1752-1834) on her estate at Alameda de Osuna, which was then outside the city of Madrid. It is landscaped in eighteenth-century style with formal and naturalistic features. There is some English influence.

Structures

Palace

There are various buildings from the time of the Duchess, the largest being the ducal palacio. She continued to make improvements to the gardens until the end of her life, one of the last features being an iron bridge, which was constructed in 1830. This is claimed to be the first iron bridge in Spain.

There is a bunker from the Civil War period. It is known as posición Jaca.

Access

The park is within the Madrid suburbs and is accessible by bus and metro (line 5). The park is normally open to the public at weekends.[1]

References

  1. ^ "Patrimonio Verdo". www.madrid.es.