In the year 1777, during the reign of Carlos III was founded in Almaden, Ciudad Real, the Academy of Mines, origin of the School of Mines. It is not surprising that it was in Almadén, remembering the mining past of the entire Sierra Morena. The Academy moved to Madrid in 1835 and wandered around different locations until 1896 when it moved to 21 Ríos Rosas Street.

The church was designed by architect Ricardo Velazquez Bosco had begun the construction of the building in 1884, at that time Velázquez had already finished the pavilion for the National Mining Exhibition in El Retiro, which today is named in his honor Velázquez Palace, with a quite similar architectural conception, and which led to its maximum expression in the Palacio de Fomento in Atocha, better known as Department of agriculture.

The building has a rectangular floor plan and is organized around a central patio that has two floors of arches on cast iron columns. It is covered by a splendid glass skylight and metal structure that provides overhead light to the entire space.

The side wings house the Historical Library on one side, and the Museum of Minerals and Fossils, which since 1988 has been called Don Felipe de Borbón Mining Historical Museum.

A building that is well worth visiting, along with the adjacent one Geomining Museum to which we will dedicate another 365 days in Madrid.

From Rutas Pangea we are very grateful to Ultano Kindelán for his photos of the building.

A abrazo.