The Palace was built on the site of a small Arab fortress, built while the Arabs ruled almost all of Spain. For seven centuries Spain's history consisted of small Spanish kingdoms fighting to push back the Arab occupiers, culminating in a final victory in 1492 as the last Arab city, Granada, was reconquered. Madrid, sitting smack dab in the middle of the country, was reconquered much earlier, around 1000, and was one of many cities in the Spanish kingdom of Castile. Castile never had a proper capital though, with the Castilian king moving from one town to another with his court. But as Castile gradually grew through war and marriage by annexing the other half dozen Spanish kingdoms and evicting the Arabs, the court finally settled down, declaring Madrid the capital of all Spain in 1561. At the time it was a puny town, generally avoided for its terrible weather, but the king suffered from gout and Madrid's hot dry weather was just what the doctor ordered, so unlikely Madrid was catapulted to capital status. The first royal palace was built over the original Arab fort soon after, but that palace burned down, to be replaced by the current building in 1738.



Only about 30 of the palace's 2800 rooms are open to the public, which is probably enough. In general they're quite stunning in a usual palatial sort of way, but many of the rooms stand out by being completely coated in porcelain, often with a Chinese flavor to them.