Madrid from the Ancien Regime to the Bourgeois Restoration: The Parque del Oeste and the Augmentation of the Capital

Abstract

The subject of this article is the augmentation of Madrid during the second half of the nineteenth century, and the role played by its public parks — an expansion following a project (El Ensanche) approved by the government of Queen Isabella II in 1860 and slowly implemented during the period of the Bourbon Restoration (1874–1931). I will argue that, in spite of being the capital of an old imperial monarchy, Madrid’s augmentation — unlike that of other European capitals — ignored monumentality, tradition and imperial allegories. Instead the authorities embraced the reformist values and beliefs of the financial and industrial classes. In this context the public park, el Parquedel. Oeste (the West Park), was an important part of the augmentation project — an experimental laboratory where. new ideas could be implemented on a small scale.