Caños del Peral Museum of Archaeology

Ten metres below the Plaza de Isabel II, the Ópera Metro station (L2, L5 and Ramal Norte) houses the museum reconstruction of the historical Caños del Peral Fountain, the Amaniel Aqueduct and the Arenal Sewer. The museum is located on the second level of the station, next to the entrance to the platform for Line 2 towards Las Rosas and the escalator for transit to Line 5.

The tour teaches us about the fountain, which gathered water from the spring next to the Arenal stream during the second half of the 16^th century, and which was originally 34 metres long; the barrel-vault supply gallery and the area’s drains; and the aqueduct that, crossing the cliff at the Arenal stream, provided the Royal Palace with water from the 17^th century practically up to the 20^th.

Information panels and three videos projected in a little amphitheatre show in detail what Madrid was like at the time and the history of the complex, which was originally found in what is now the Plaza de Isabel II. The fountain supplied the population of Madrid through a network of water carriers, one of the most important trades in the city, organised into water carriers who carried it in barrels, on donkeys, in small earthenware urns or large urns.