The conservation and restoration works for the facades and roofs of the Casón del Buen Retiro, an emblematic building integrated within the Prado National Museum, have been awarded by the Ministry of Culture for an amount of 2.4 million euros. The project, published in the Official State Gazette, has a planned execution period of 14 months.
The contract has been awarded to the company COTAS 0,0 Arquitectos, Proyectos y Obras S.L. following a bidding process in which six companies participated. The economic offers ranged between 2,339,817.93 euros and 2,632,090.50 euros, falling below the initial tender budget set at 2,736,629.76 euros.
The Casón del Buen Retiro is one of the few surviving structures from the old Buen Retiro Palace, representing, along with the Hall of Realms, the last vestiges of that historical construction which dominated the Madrid landscape for centuries. Designed by Alonso Carbonel, the Palace's master builder, its construction began in 1637. Inside, the Ballroom stands out with paintings by Luca Giordano created around 1697, considered one of its most valuable artistic treasures.
The current building is the result of profound transformations undertaken in the last third of the 19th century. Its monumental facades were designed by architects Mariano Carderera and Ricardo Velázquez Bosco, giving it its current appearance.
Throughout its history, the Casón has housed various uses and collections. For decades, it served as the venue for the 19th-century painting collections of the Prado Museum and exhibited Pablo Picasso's Guernica from its arrival from the United States until 1992. Currently, it houses the Prado Museum's library, specializing in art from the Middle Ages to the 19th century.
The current intervention addresses the need to preserve the building's exterior structures, recognizing its significant historical and artistic value as a first-class cultural heritage for the institution and for Madrid.
