Several decades ago, Retiro Park had a very strong connection with animals. Even beyond the one remembered – by the older ones – the Casa de Fieras, there were other refuges for lions, bears or tigers in different parts of this green space. Among them, a space which was located in the current Cuesta de Moyano and was then still part of the gardens of the Buen Retiro Palace. Or, later, “La Leonera”, next to Puerta de Alcalá. The fact is that large animals have been living in El Retiro for some time and for this they had facilities prepared for this purpose. Already in the Menagerie, the elephant ‘Pizarro’ was very famous, who came from a circus and whose guardian took him every day to bathe in a nearby pond. One day, during this walk, the pachyderm escaped and wreaked havoc on Alcalá Street. It is likely that this pond with a rail where she was taken for her daily ablutions was the one known as the “elephant bath”, which was kept open in the city. until not so long ago, then it was lost, buried by time and earth, later rediscovered by municipal works, then hidden again. Standard CAPITAL STORIES Yes When Madrid changed the cages of the Menagerie for a modern zoo with wild animals Sara Medialdea The establishment planned to spend 40 million pesetas for the acquisition of specimens One of the experts of the conservation association Madrid Ciudadanía y Patrimony, Antonio Cabañas, wrote about it, remembering that the bathroom or bathtub was about 170 years old. It was born after the War of Independence, a conflict that left Retiro practically in ruins, with only three buildings standing: the Hall of Kingdoms, the Casón and the Astronomical Observatory. Ferdinand VII wanted to recover the Royal Site, and the “whims” were designed: the Fisherman’s House, the Smuggler’s House, the Artificial Mountain, the Egyptian Fountain, the Embarcadero… and the Menagerie. Construction began in 1830 and, in addition, a swimming pool was built in the southern area where animals could bathe. Newspapers of the time spoke of the “elephant bathtub” as early as the 1940s and it was used for many years. Then, little by little, the uses changed, the animals moved to the modern zoo of Casa de Campo, and this pond gradually deteriorated, becoming a place of play for children who sneaked into the enclosure, or in a pool of water of more than doubtful water. health enjoyed by dogs in the region. The room was around 170 years old, and in its later years it was only used as a bath for stray dogs. 1965, 60 years ago now, we buried the “elephant bath”. And only several decades later, in 2018, a new municipal administration began the work that resulted in the discovery of the site. Many Madrid residents thought this would result in its rehabilitation, but that was not the case: a year later, with the bathtub already visible, it was reburied, once photographed, documented and dated. madrid_dia_0703Now a plaque commemorates the place where the installation was located. It was decided, explained the Town Hall, to recreate “the layout of its wall using a double row of red bricks embedded in the sidewalk, and the inscription with the name in steel letters was installed . MORE INFORMATION The Madrid gardener who managed.” bring 12,000 roses to Madrid in the middle of the First World War Pinito del Oro, the great circus artist who appeared on the cover of the New York Times and lived without a network. From the Madrid Citizenship and Heritage entity, its spokesperson Álvaro Bonet continues to thinking that it would be a very good opportunity to recover it as a pond, “and that we could remember it with the living element, and not just with a plaque and marked on the ground”.
