Casino de la Reina

The Casino de la Reina is a country or holiday house with extensive gardens, given to Queen Maria Isabel of Portugal, the second wife of Ferdinand VII, by the Madrid City Council.

Located in the Glorieta de Embajadores, the site is currently occupied by a number of school buildings and the gardens are much reduced in size, although in their day they were very beautiful. In the early years of the twenty-first century Madrid City Council restored the gardens so that they could be used by the public. There is also a spacious green area with a large meadow, which is home to a cultural centre, where diverse activities are organised, a day centre for the elderly and the "hut", for children’s activities. Festivities of the diverse cultures that are present in the area are also held here.

However, during the reign of Isabel II, the land was donated to the State and was home to many institutions, such as the National Archaeological Museum, which was located there until moving to its current site in 1895.  It was also home to the Veterinarian School or the Cigarreras Asylum.

The project is the work of the architects Beatriz Matos Castaño and Alberto Martínez Castillo and has won various awards. All the new buildings have disappeared from the site, except the Cervantes secondary school and the Santa María primary school. The convent school, which occupied the original mansion, has been refurbished and is now used for social activities.