Pasaje Alonso Carbonell

The name travels from the neighbouring Calle de Alonso Carbonell, to which this passage serves as a shortcut in the heart of La Chopera. It honours Alonso Carbonel, born in Albacete in 1583 and died in Madrid in 1660, one of the great master builders of Habsburg Madrid. Carbonel began carving altarpieces before becoming the king’s architect. His greatest commission came in 1632, when the Count-Duke of Olivares put him in charge of the Buen Retiro Palace, Philip IV’s pleasure complex of which only the Casón and the Hall of Realms survive today. The works of the Royal Pantheon at El Escorial are also his. In 1648 he reached the post of chief master of the royal works, the peak of the trade. A palace chronicle catches him at the 1638 carnival: in a “world turned upside down” masque, the plain-looking Carbonel was given the part of queen before the court.