Format: IAU - Outstanding Astronomical Heritage

Description

Geographical position 

• InfoTheme: Astronomy from the Renaissance to the mid-twentieth century
  Entity: 166
  Subentity: 1
  Version: 3
  Status: PUB
  Date: 2022-04-16 01:40:54
  Author(s): Gudrun Wolfschmidt

Real Observatorio Astronómico de Madrid, Villanueva Building, in Buen Retiro Park, Calle Alfonso XII, 3, 28014 Madrid, Spain

Location 

• InfoTheme: Astronomy from the Renaissance to the mid-twentieth century
  Entity: 166
  Subentity: 1
  Version: 2
  Status: PUB
  Date: 2021-03-10 05:54:31
  Author(s): Gudrun Wolfschmidt

Latitude 40.408571 N, Longitude 3.687606 W, Elevation ...m above mean sea level.

IAU observatory code 

• InfoTheme: Astronomy from the Renaissance to the mid-twentieth century
  Entity: 166
  Subentity: 1
  Version: 1
  Status: PUB
  Date: 2021-03-10 03:49:50
  Author(s): Gudrun Wolfschmidt

990

Description of (scientific/cultural/natural) heritage 

• InfoTheme: Astronomy from the Renaissance to the mid-twentieth century
  Entity: 166
  Subentity: 1
  Version: 4
  Status: PUB
  Date: 2022-08-16 12:58:32
  Author(s): Gudrun Wolfschmidt

The Real Observatorio Astronómico de Madrid on a hill next to the Buen Retiro Park was founded in 1790 by King Carlos IV (1748--1819), King of Spain, 1788 to 1808. The Spanish architect Juan de Villanueva (1739--1811) together with Ventura Rodríguez (1717--1785) constructed the Madrid observatory in Neoclassical style in the shape of a Greek cross with four wings of equal length. The domed lantern gives the impression of a classical round temple.

Activities at the Observatory resumed in 1845, and the construction of the building was completed in 1846 under the orders of the architect Narciso Pascual Colomer (1808--1870).

The building has three major parts: A Foucault Pendulum is located in the central rotunda - this pendulum illustrates the daily rotation of the earth - and the collection of instruments, the Repsold meridian circle (1854) and the impressive library, with numerous valuable books. In addition, in the Earth and Universe Sciences Room a wonderful collection of Astronomy, Geodesy and Geophysical instruments from the 19th and 20th centuries can be found.

The research institutes, the Astronomical Observatory and the Central Observatory for Geophysics (Instituto Geográfico Nacional is founded in 1870), are both administered by the National Geographic Institute (via its department of Astronomía, Geofísica y Aplicaciones Espaciales).

History 

• InfoTheme: Astronomy from the Renaissance to the mid-twentieth century
  Entity: 166
  Subentity: 1
  Version: 7
  Status: PUB
  Date: 2022-04-16 01:38:16
  Author(s): Gudrun Wolfschmidt

Instruments

• 25-foot reflecting telescope (60cm aperture) by William Herschel (1804),
  which was destroyed in 1808 during the Napoleonic occupation, but it is restored.
   
• Pendulum clocks
• Azimuth circle, Utzschneider & Liebherr of Munich (c. 1840)
• Reflecting circle, Franco de Lorenzo (c. 1800)
• Meridian circle, Repsold of Hamburg (1854)
   
• Foucault pendulum in the centre rotunda illustrates the daily rotation of the earth
  
• Equatorial telescope, made by Howard Grubb of Dublin (1912)
• Spectroheliograph (1911), cf. Spectroheliograph in Ebro Observatory in Tortosa, Catalonia (1908)

State of preservation 

• InfoTheme: Astronomy from the Renaissance to the mid-twentieth century
  Entity: 166
  Subentity: 1
  Version: 4
  Status: PUB
  Date: 2022-04-16 01:19:49
  Author(s): Gudrun Wolfschmidt

The Real Observatorio Astronómico de Madrid is a Spanish Property of Cultural Interest, a Monument, designated in 1995, Reference no. RI-51-0009078.

In addition, it is part of the ensemble "Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro, a landscape of Arts and Sciences" on the Unesco World Heritage List (Dossier: 1618, Inscription: 2021, (ii)(iv)(vi)).

Comparison with related/similar sites 

• InfoTheme: Astronomy from the Renaissance to the mid-twentieth century
  Entity: 166
  Subentity: 1
  Version: 4
  Status: PUB
  Date: 2022-05-27 18:50:00
  Author(s): Gudrun Wolfschmidt

It is a representative building in neoclassical style - in the layout of a Greek cross --
like Turku (1819), Berlin, New Observatory (1835), Bonn (1844), Athens (1846), and much later Quito (1873), as well as Vienna University Observatory (1883).

Threats or potential threats 

• InfoTheme: Astronomy from the Renaissance to the mid-twentieth century
  Entity: 166
  Subentity: 1
  Version: 2
  Status: PUB
  Date: 2021-08-29 17:51:35
  Author(s): Gudrun Wolfschmidt

no threats

Present use 

• InfoTheme: Astronomy from the Renaissance to the mid-twentieth century
  Entity: 166
  Subentity: 1
  Version: 4
  Status: PUB
  Date: 2022-04-16 01:44:06
  Author(s): Gudrun Wolfschmidt

The Real Observatorio Astronómico de Madrid is now used as Royal Observatory Museum with a remarkable collection of scientific instruments.

Astronomical relevance today 

• InfoTheme: Astronomy from the Renaissance to the mid-twentieth century
  Entity: 166
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  Version: 2
  Status: PUB
  Date: 2021-03-10 05:56:48
  Author(s): Gudrun Wolfschmidt

In the north-east of Madrid near Guadalajar, the Yebes Observatory provides the RT 40-m-radio telescope, two smaller radio telescopes, a solar tower, an astrograph and a Gravimeter.
High quality observations can be made in the Canary Islands, the second-best location for optical and infrared astronomy in the Northern Hemisphere (after Hawaii).

References

Links to external sites 

• InfoTheme: Astronomy from the Renaissance to the mid-twentieth century
  Entity: 166
  Subentity: 1
  Version: 3
  Status: PUB
  Date: 2022-04-16 01:34:32
  Author(s): Gudrun Wolfschmidt

• Spanish National Observatory (Wikipedia)
  
  
• Royal Observatory of Madrid (Wikipedia)
  
  
• National Observatory - Astronomía
  
  
• National Observatory - Geofísica
  
  
• National Observatory - Geodesia
  
  
• Anuario del Real Observatorio
  
  
• Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro, a landscape of Arts and Sciences (Unesco)
  
  
• Royal Observatory Museum in Madrid, Villanueva Building, Retiro Park
  
  
• Visitas al Real Observatorio de Madrid
  
  
• Yebes Observatory RT40m (Wikipedia)
  
  
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