La historia de la Escuela de Artediez

Teaching in the Restoration period

In 1871, in the Revolutionary Six Year Period, the School of Arts and Crafts in Madrid was funded “aimed at popularizing science and its important applications, offering trainings of artisan, master craftsman, foreman factory engineer and foreman, and spreading the indispensable knowledge in agriculture and industry of our country”. In 1874, to the teachings that were given in the original building of the Ministry of Development, were added five new sections “for graphics and visual training, established one of them in the premises of the Ministry, another on the ground floor of the San Isidro Studios, another at number 25 on the street Isabel the Catholic, the other at 80 Calle Ancha de San Bernardo, and another, finally, at number 11 Calle del Turco”. This expansion into small centres came also motivated by the difficulty of having a large building able to accommodate as many students in appropriate conditions.

In this environment, artistic education began an activity essentially characterized by limited resources and regulatory changes. Although since 1886 the School of Madrid was organized into nine sections “this school, spilt over popular streets of Madrid, dreams of a modern building that offers functional accommodation in which to comfortably develop their educational work.” By 1884 the construction of a large building next to the Botanical Garden had begun in order to locate in it the School of Arts and Crafts in Madrid, and whose works suffered stoppages and delays. The architect Ricardo Velazquez Bosco was responsible for the project and its construction. It is in these years of exponent growth when Madrid sees many new buildings materialized forming an urban layout more similar to the current.

But finally, it was decided to allocate in the new building the Ministry of Public Works, which several decades later, upon the construction of the New Ministries, would leave the venue to the current Ministry of Agriculture. With the work still unfinished, taking advantage that in the site already existed the foundation of the school that was never built, and which ultimately would condition the development of the building, part of the ground floors were occupied with machinery belonging to one of the school sections that were to be finally transferred to the National Archaeological Museum premises.