El Goyeneche palace It is a large Spanish urban palace that is located on Alcalá Street in Madrid, it is a large baroque building. It was owned by the Count of Saceda and at the time it was occupied by the offices of the Revenue and Real Estanco de Tabaco. The Mansion previously known as Mesón de la Miel, had been built, in 1720, by the famous José Benito de Churriguera for residence of Juan de Goyeneche, minister, financier and industrial entrepreneur of the time of Philip V.

La Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando He deals with various arts: Painting, Architecture, Sculpture and Engraving. Its purpose was to convert the artistic subject into a subject of regulated studies, surpassing the previous model of learning in the workshop.

The Institution acquired the building with the thought of transforming it, since its baroque façade, as it was said: “was not corresponding to what was to be the home of the Fine Arts. Diego de Villanueva He was in charge of giving it a neoclassical air, who, after drawing the plans of the floors and the façade, placed a Doric doorway on its renovated front.

The interiors were adapted to accommodate the rooms of the Academy program and the Natural History Office which, by order of Carlos III, occupied two floors of buildings. This shared use was due to the fact that the monarch, in 1771, had received the gift of a magnificent collection of Natural History, gathered by the Ecuadorian Pedro Franco Dávila. The desired union of the Arts and Sciences, for the enlightened, thus had its achievement. The Latin inscription written by Thomas of Iriarte which appears on the main balcony of the Academy proclaims:

CAROLUS III REX
NATURAM ARTEM SUB UNO TECTO
IN PUBLICAM UTILITATEM CONSOCIAVIT
ANNO MDCCLXXIV

It reads "King Charles III brought together Nature and Art under one roof for public use in the year 1774."

Until the end of the 19th century, the Academy of Fine Arts and the Office of Natural History coexisted together, since the building that the architect built at the end of the 18th century Juan de Villanueva to host the Museum of Natural History, due to the War of Independence against the French, it was never opened as such. We all know that since the time of Ferdinand VII welcomes the Museo del Prado.

Currently we can enjoy fantastic temporary exhibitions at the Academy.

A abrazo.