Palacio de Goyeneche

The Palacio de Goyeneche is a major urban palace on Calle de Alcalá in Madrid that today houses the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. Originally planned in 1720 for the industrialist and financier Juan de Goyeneche, the building was designed by the architect José Benito de Churriguera and, after his early death in 1725, completed by his brother Alberto de Churriguera. The building stands on an irregular but essentially rectangular site and is distinguished by an almost symmetrical layout around two central courtyards and a staircase. The facade has a classically restrained character that contrasts with the Baroque exuberance the Churriguera brothers displayed in other works. Until 1773, the palace served various state purposes, including as the office of royal revenues and the tobacco monopoly administration, before King Charles III bought it to serve as a new home for the Academy of Fine Arts.

For its new function, the facade was remodeled in the neoclassical style by Diego de Villanueva in 1774. The original Baroque elements, such as enormous pilasters and busts, were removed to create a plainer, more classical appearance. Later, at the end of the 19th century, Ricardo Velázquez Bosco added a fourth floor to make room for the art school. After a comprehensive restoration by Fernando Chueca Goitia between 1973 and 1985, which among other things created a new hall in a former courtyard, the upper floors, previously used by the Ministry of Finance, were more recently integrated into the museum area as well. This expansion, designed by the artist Gustavo Torner, added 22 new exhibition rooms to the collection.

Today the building is a national monument and houses not only the Academy but also its museum. The interior spaces are divided by function: the piano nobile historically served for administration, the library, and cabinets for works of art, while the lower levels were originally used for teaching subjects such as mathematics, drawing, and perspective. A special chapter in the building's history is the Natural History Cabinet, which Charles III had established to unite art and science under one roof. Although the collection was later to move to what is now the Prado Museum, the Academy and the natural history cabinet remained together in this building until the end of the 19th century. Today, visitors can experience the architectural evolution from Baroque to Neoclassicism and tour the Academy's extensive collections.