El Palace of Cibeles, name with which we have known since 2011 to Communications palace, was the old post office building and is the current headquarters of the Madrid City Council. Built on the missing Gardens of the Buen Retiro, was designed by the architects Antonio Palacios Ramilo y Joaquin Otamendi Machimbarrena between 1904 and 1918, it is one of the first examples of modernist architecture built in Madrid. . The complex is enormous, occupying about 30.000 square meters. It adapts to the irregular surface of the site. A historicist, original, monumental, very symbolic building, representing progress and national modernity.

The facade towards the Plaza de Cibeles It stands out for its plasticity, surrounded by pentagonal towers and crowned by an octagonal dome over the transept, 70 meters high. And, on the circular staircase, which was a service staircase, the tiled plinths made by the Ramos Rejano House, Sevillian ceramics factory.

In September 1907, work on the winning project of the competition, Palacios and Otamendi, began.

On November 23, 1909, the official inauguration of the building took place with the presence of the Kings of Spain (the works were not fully completed until 1917)

La Civil War It hardly causes any damage to the building, some bullet holes during Casado's coup are its only memory of those fateful days.

The Crystal Gallery is very impressive, a large vault of irregular geometry, which covers more than 2.400 m² of what was previously the van dock or popularly known as Post Office Street. It was built between 2008 and 2009.

Since November 5, 2007, it has housed the headquarters of the Madrid City Council. The building also includes a cultural area called «Center Center"If you're passing by, don't miss climbing the tower; it's 2 euros but the views are spectacular."

One more thing, on the last Thursday of each month a large number of people gather in the Plaza de Cibeles, to begin the BIKECRITICAL"Use your bike daily, celebrate it once a month" is a protest movement that demands the use of the bike as a means of transport in the city and advocates for giving visibility to the bicycle among citizens, in this case, of Madrid.

A abrazo.