Cibeles Palace & Fountain

The Cibeles Palace is a white palace on the Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid, Spain. It was built as the city's main post office and telegraph and telephone headquarters, and today it is Madrid's City Hall and a public cultural centre called CentroCentro. It stands on land that once belonged to the old gardens of the Buen Retiro. Its white front, covered in carved decoration, makes it easy to spot.

In the middle of the square, just in front, stands the Cibeles Fountain, which shows the goddess Cybele on a chariot pulled by lions. The palace and the fountain are among the best-known sights of Madrid, and the palace was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural, a protected cultural monument, in 1993.

How it was built

Architects Antonio Palacios and Joaquín Otamendi were young men when they won a city competition to design the building. One goal was to make "a building for the public". The work officially began on 12 September 1907, but it was slowed down for years by political fights and calls for a new competition.

In the end it took about twelve years. Madrid people even gave the huge building the nickname "Our Lady of Communications". It opened on 14 March 1919 as a modern centre for post, telegraphs and telephones.

From post office to city hall

As fewer people sent letters in the late twentieth century, the building lost much of its old job. Its style, called Modernismo, mixes a decorated Neoplateresque front with echoes of Baroque buildings in Salamanca.

In 2007 the City Council of Madrid moved in, and two floors were added. The renovation also made room for CentroCentro, a public cultural area. Until 2011 the building was still officially called the Palace of Telecommunications.

The fountain

The Cibeles Fountain was set up in 1794 and designed by Ventura Rodríguez. It shows the goddess Cybele in a chariot drawn by two lions.

Today it is known as the place where Real Madrid fans gather to celebrate when their team wins a title.

The square around it was first called the Plaza de Madrid and later the Plaza de Castelar, before people settled on the name of the goddess. Both the fountain and the palace sit where the old Calle de Alcalá meets the Paseo del Prado, one of the city's grand avenues.

On the globe

The model shows the white palace and the fountain of Cybele with her lion-drawn chariot. Look for the two lions pulling the chariot.