Atocha Station

The Atocha terminus is the largest in Madrid, but from the point of view of industrial heritage it consists of two separate stations which comprise one of the most extraordinary industrial heritage spectacles in Europe. It occupies the site of the first terminus in the Spanish capital, opened in 1851, but replaced in 1892 by an imposing building with a wrought-iron roof designed by Alberto de Palacio Elissagne in collaboration with Gustave Eiffel. The walls of the train shed are distinguished by particularly fine and detailed terracotta ornamentation. The train shed ceased to be used in the early 1990s and has been adapted to other purposes, with shops, cafes and a night club grouped around a 4 ha covered tropical garden. On the throat of the old station Rafael Moneo designed new platforms in a modernist style, accessed from above by escalators, which are served by high speed trains to Seville, Valencia and Portugal, and by commuter and regional services from the area to the south.