Palacio de Cibeles

The Palacio de Cibeles on Madrid's Plaza de Cibeles is a monumental building erected between 1907 and 1919 by Antonio Palacios and Joaquin Otamendi as the Spanish capital's new main post office. With its white towers and filigree stone-carving the building combines neo-plateresque elements with Viennese Jugendstil and is considered one of the most spectacular administrative buildings of Spain's Belle Epoque. Spanish postal operations continued here until 2007, when Madrid city government moved in and renamed the palace. Today the building houses the CentroCentro cultural centre with changing exhibitions, a sixth-floor restaurant and a public viewing terrace on the eighth floor overlooking the Calle de Alcala and the Retiro park.