- Palladio 500 Exhibition
The exhibition has now closed in Madrid and the drawings are safely back in their boxes.
So here concludes our Palladio Blog. Its been a long journey. We’ve been working on Palladio since 2006, four years!
Here are some handy stats for the tour:
Miles ‘trucked’: 4390 Miles, 10 flights to and from four top European destinations
Hours travelled: 152 hours and 50 mins
Visitors to the exhibition in all four venues: Over 400,000
Football Stadia visited: 5
A big thank you to Mark, Lise, Robin and Kate from Oxford Exhibition Services plus all the registrars, technicians, mount cutters, conservators, curators and other couriers we have met along the way for making the journey a fun and knowledgeable experience. Lastly, lets not forget our understanding colleagues at the RIBA!
Jamon and Tapas
With the exhibition installed and as we were in Madrid – we had to sample the Tapas!
Estadio Santiago Bernabeu
During our free time we managed to see a match in one of the most famous stadiums in the world, Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. Originally designed in 1944 by architects Manuel Muñoz Monasterio and Luis Alemany Soler, the stadium has undergone many alterations and expansions over the years and now has a capacity of 80,354.
We were lucky enough to get tickets to see Real Madrid play Marseille in the Champion’s league and we went along with an Italian courier from the CISA Andrea Palladio in Vicenza. Always building those international links!
Real Madrid won 3-0, a comfortable win for the ‘Merengues’ with Diawara having been sent off for Marseille.
Madrid's buildings
During our time installing the exhibition in Madrid we got to see some of the architectural delights of Spain’s capital.
The Torre Colon on the left was Madrid’s tallest building up until 1989 at 116metres.
The Edificio Metropolis on the right was built between 1907 and 1911 after a design by the architects Jules & Raymond Fevrier. The statue on the dome was put there in 1975 and depicts a winged Goddess Victoria.
The plains of Spain
Our journey from Barcelona to Madrid took us through the beautiful countryside of central Spain via Zaragoza where they have taken advantage of the sweeping plains to erect a number of wind farms to produce sustainable energy.
Sunset in Madrid
We were greeted in Madrid by a beautiful sunset.
La CaixaForum, Madrid
The Palladio exhibition has finished in Barcelona to the next stop for us is the city of Madrid and the CaixaForum Madrid which is housed in an 1899 power station converted into a cultural centre by RIBA Gold Medallists Herzog and de Meuron.
Espanyol
What a better way to get a close up of the stadium – go to a match.
Barcelona’s more fashionable team, FC Barcelona had just won the Copa del Rey & La Liga and there were many whistles and beeping horns throughout the night. We on the other hand decided to watch Espanyol fighting to avoid relegation on a hot afternoon. They did with a 1-0 victory, a fairly dubious penalty decision.
What a view from the stadium – it’s the first time we had taken the funicular to a match.
Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, Barcelona
Built in 1927 and renovated for the 1992 summer Olympics the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys is the home of Barcelona’s second football team, RCD Espanyol, until they move to a smaller stadium later in the year.
The Olympic park is an amazing collection of buildings on the summit of Montjuic in south west of the city. It is a long climb to the top.
Casa Mila roof at dusk
These are the famous chimneys of the Casa Mila. It was a very nice time to visit as we could see the sunset from the top. In the background of this photograph you can see the Spanish gherkin, the Torre Agbar, opened in 2005 by French architect Jean Nouvel.
After the long wait and the lovely view our tired limbs were ready for a nice glass of Rioja.
Casa Mila, Barcelona
The day we decided go to Casa Mila, the great Gaudi building, we discovered that it was ‘La Nit dels Museus de Barcelona’ which meant from seven in the evening until one in the morning 27 of Barcelona’s most popular museums opened their doors free of charge.
Although this was a nice bonus for us it did mean that there were very long queues, as it was a very popular event not just with tourists but locals as well.
