The Casa de Campo (, for Spanish: ''Country House'') is the largest public park in Madrid. It is situated west of central

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Spain. It gets its name 'Country House' because it was once a royal hunting estate, located just west of the Royal Palace of Madrid. It was created in the early 16th century for use by the

royal family A royal family is the immediate family of monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papal family describes the family of a pope, while th ...

and

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

, and was opened to the public in 1931 when it became a public park. Today, it is a popular green space and weekend destination for Madrid residents. Its area is , about five times the size of New York City's

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

or twice the size of Paris'

Bois de Boulogne The Bois de Boulogne (, "Boulogne woodland") is a large public park that is the western half of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by the Em ...

. The Casa de Campo is linked to the Parque del Oeste by the Teleférico de Madrid, a

gondola lift A gondola lift is a means of cable transport and type of aerial lift which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel wire rope that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate suppo ...

. The complex was declared in 2010 an '' Asset of Cultural Interest'' by the Community of Madrid. For its part, the regulations of the General Urban Planning Plan of the Madrid City Council, of 1997, classify it as a historic park.

Overview

An amusement park, the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid, and the

Madrid Zoo The Madrid Zoo Aquarium is a zoo and aquarium located in the Casa de Campo in Madrid, Spain. The zoo is owned by the city, but is managed by the international entertainment operator Parques Reunidos. Opened in 1770, it is one of the largest z ...

are located inside the park. The park also contains an artificial lake for recreation. From 1936 to 1939, during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, the front lines of the

Siege of Madrid The siege of Madrid was a two-and-a-half-year siege of the Second Spanish Republic, Republican-controlled Spain, Spanish capital city of Madrid by the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist armies, under General Francisco Franco, ...

ran through the Casa de Campo, where the Republicans had halted a nationalist offensive in November 1936. In the 90s and 2000s, the park was a center of prostitution.

Flora and fauna

The natural vegetation of Casa de Campo is mainly holm oak forest, accompanied by mediterranean bushes. However, throughout its history it has undergone constant transformation, even being used as

farmland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bot ...

in some periods and repopulated in others with different non-native tree species, mainly stone pines or

cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs from the ''Cupressus'' genus of the '' Cupressaceae'' family, typically found in temperate climates and subtropical regions of Asia, Europe, and North America. The word ''cypress'' ...

trees, but also others such as poplars, chestnut trees, plane trees, ash trees, oaks or willows. In 2002, 686,294 specimens (trees or shrubs) were registered in the woodland inventory of the park. In 2000, 18 trees or groups of them were classified as ''Singular Trees''. They are marked with wooden signs that describe their special characteristics. A 2021 winter storm, Filomena, destroyed at least a tenth of the trees throughout Madrid, and damaged an unknown amount of the park.

Access

The park can be accessed via the Teleferico, a gondola with a pick up point inside the Parque del Oeste on the west end of Madrid. The drop-off point houses a restaurant with an overlook of Madrid, playgrounds (both inside and outside), and access to Casa de Campo's many trails. The park is connected to Madrid's public transit system, including stations on lines 5 and 10 of the

Madrid Metro The Madrid Metro (Spanish: ''Metro de Madrid'') is a rapid transit system serving the city of Madrid, capital of Spain. The system is the 14th longest rapid transit system in the world, with a total length of . Its growth between 1995 and 200 ...

References

External links

Parque de Atracciones de Madrid
(in Spanish)
Zoo de Madrid
(in Spanish)
TelefericoGoogle maps
{{Authority control Parks in Madrid Articles containing video clips Red-light districts in Spain

Overview

Flora and fauna

Access

See also

References

External links