We are going to tell you the story of Matadero. The Municipal Slaughterhouse and Livestock Market of Madrid, known as the Legazpi Municipal Slaughterhouse. Arganzuela Municipal Slaughterhouse, or simply Slaughterhouse (the name leaves no doubt as to its origin) is a group of forty-eight buildings dedicated to carrying out the functions of an industrial slaughterhouse and livestock market during the central decades of the 20th century.

It was built on a plot that was part of the Arganzuela pasture. The land had twelve hectares of built surface with various warehouses and buildings of neo-Mudejar architecture so typical in Madrid architecture and especially in the industrial architecture of the late 1910th and early 1925th centuries. The works lasted from XNUMX to XNUMX in a then depopulated area of ​​the city to satisfy the needs of the growing population of Madrid and to replace the old slaughterhouse-house of Puerta de Toledo.

The municipal architect was in charge of the design of the Matadero Luis Bellido y González and the engineer José Eugenio Ribera. The facilities remained in use until 1996.

All the facilities were grouped into five sectors of production, management and administration, slaughterhouse, food market, labor market and health section, they also had housing for staff, a chapel, even their own circulation system and railway; following the German system of isolated pavilions, linked by means of roads and presided over by an administrative building, the “Clock House” located on the main axis of the composition.

Between 1927-1930 the architect Fernando de Escondrillas built the adjacent one for the slaughterhouse workers Handkerchief Peak Colony. On April 23, 1935, the Central Fruit and Vegetable Market On the other side of the street that accessed the Andalusia Bridge from the Plaza de Legazpi, in the last free land of the old Arganzuela pasture, another day we will refer to that large space that is now disused.

During the defense of Madrid, in the Civil War, the slaughterhouse that was very close to the front line, some rooms were used as an ammunition depot.

After the civil war, other uses were accepted and the warehouse was built to store potatoes in 1940, later it was transformed into the Arganzuela greenhouse in 1992.

Since the beginning of the 80s, the remodeling and change of use of several of the rooms began: the management pavilion, the Clock House, became the headquarters of the Municipal Board of the Arganzuela district; In the old cattle stables, the permanent headquarters of the National Dance Company (CND) and the National Ballet of Spain were located; or in the old cattle stable (later a potato warehouse): the Palacio de Cristal de la Arganzuela. After the definitive closure of the slaughterhouse in 1996, the facilities remained unused until 2003 when it was decided to transform them into the cultural space that we know today as Matadero Madrid, which opened its doors in 2007. It is divided into various departments:

-Open X Works: the old refrigeration warehouse is today a field of operations to develop artistic practices.

-Casa del Lector: the programming of this great cultural center makes readers and reading its fundamental protagonists. By the way, until July there is an incredible exhibition about Roberto Bolaño.

-Design Headquarters: located in Nave 17 C and promoted by the Madrid City Council and DIMAD (Association of Designers of Madrid), it is intended for the promotion and dissemination of design.

-Cinetheque: it is the first and only theater in the country dedicated almost exclusively to non-fiction cinema.

-Naves del Español: managed and programmed by the Teatro Español, the complex, equipped with great flexibility, allows the autonomous operation of three interconnected spaces (a café theater, a large stage space and an area for training), debate, reflection and rehearsal of new productions.

-Music Ship: architects Langarita and Navarro have transformed one of the Matadero warehouses into a temple dedicated to music with recording studios, rehearsal rooms and even a small stage for concerts. His project received a special mention at the 2013 European Architecture Awards.

-Intermediae: is an initiative of the Arts Area of ​​the Madrid City Council, it aims to offer the city of Madrid a space for contemporary creation, which is positioned as a catalyst between creators and citizens, in order to search and present alternative forms of expression, creation and thought.

In addition, a wonderful market is held that seeks to recover the values ​​of traditional food and the product grown, raised and processed in the proximity of the city in which one lives, seeking the concept of kilometer 0. The name of the market is Madrid Producers and it is celebrated on the last weekends of the month, that means that tomorrow and the day after we have a market.

A abrazo.