Two Ghosts Who Haunt the Royal Botanical Garden Across From the Westin Hotel Palace in Madrid, Spain

Madrid’s Hotel Palace dates back to the early twentieth century.

• Its architecture epitomizes the functional, innovative beauty and stability of reinforced concrete.
• Its conception evokes the power of a personal preference of King Alfonso XIII (May 17, 1886 – February 28, 1941) of Spain being conveyed to Jemeppe-sur-Meuse-born Belgian luxury hotel manager and owner (Joseph Hubert) Georges Marquet (September 19, 1886 – March 29, 1947).
• Its construction honors the genius of Vilassar de Mar-born Catalan architect Eduard Ferrés i Puig (August 20, 1872 – June 24, 1928).
• Its formal opening -- eighteen months after the foundation stone's realization on March 11, 1911 -- on September 12, 1912 is remembered on the list of the world’s largest hotels.

Since 1999 the Hotel Palace claims cultural heritage status as Bien de Interés Cultural (“Good of Cultural Interest”). The categorization confers protection by the Kingdom of Spain’s Ley 16/1985, de 25 de junio, del Patrimonio Histórico Español (“Law 16/1985, of 25^th of June, of the Spanish Historical Patrimony”). It ensures continued enjoyment by locals, nationals, and visitors of:

• Banqueting and event facilities;
• Bar and restaurant;
• Rooms and suites.

It means that guests can keep tracking the footsteps of the Hotel Palace’s most famous and loyal patrons through such historically favored haunts as:

• The basement and its memories of breweries, dance halls, jazz lounges, and movie theaters;
• The circular lounge with its Art Nouveau-styled, light-filled, stained glass-topped dome.

It is perhaps not too far-fetched to expect to find ghosts haunting the Hotel Palace’s historic niches. The hotel indeed lies proximitous to the enigmas, mysteries, and secrets which swirl around:

• Museums (Museo de Arte Thyssen-Bornemisza, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Museo Nacional del Prado);
• Old Town squares (Plaza Mayor, Plaza Villa, Puerta del Sol);
• Opera houses (Teatro Real);
• Palaces (Palacio Real);
• Parliament (Cortes Generales);
• Subways (Banco de España).

It likewise may harbor back-stories for occupying property owned previously by the extant, prominent ducal line of Lerma. But unless sightings go unreported, the closest suggestions to hauntings relate to corridor-runs by Leeuwarden-born exotic dancer Mata Hari (Margaretha Zelle MacLeod, August 7, 1876 – October 15, 1917).  

Ghosts haunt Madrid's 19.77-acre (8-hectare) botanical garden and:

• Archives;

• Desert, humid, palm, tropical greenhouses;

• Herbarium;

• Library;

• Pavilion.

Terraces have:

• Aromatic, endemic, medicinal, orchard, ornamental squares (Cuadros);

• Botanic schools (Escuelas botánicas);

• Laurels (Alta de los laureles);

• Mid-nineteenth-century romantic English-inspired shrub- and tree-flowerings (Plano de la flor).

They honor:

• Ferdinand VI's (1713 – 1759) garden-founding decision-making, 1755;

• José Quer y Martínez's (1695 – 1764) 2,000+ donated plants;

• Carlos III's (1716 – 1788) relocating the garden from Soto de Migas Calientes (Hot Crumbs Orchard), 1774-;

• Casimiro Gómez Ortega's (1741 – 1818) botany;

• Francesco Sabatini 's (1722 – 1797) and Juan de Villanueva's (1739 – 1811) architecture.

A harried unknown constitutes the garden's less frequent specter. The phantom's viewers emphasize the poignancy of:

• Bright-colored, fair-weather, long-hemmed clothes;

• Desperate, sorrowful searches along flower-lined paths.

They find her immediately ahead, suddenly behind, unexpectedly gone. They have the greatest chances of sightings on the garden's Hotel Palace side. They know from local back-stories that the spectral beauty intends no harm. She merely memorializes the spot of her handsome fiancé's death after falling and hitting his head on a rock during one of their beloved strolls. Her infrequent visitations therefore seem more sensical than those of the handsome, hurried gentleman dressed like Fuendetodos-born Spanish portraitist Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (March 30, 1746 – April 16, 1828).

Anywhere in the garden affords opportunities to observe the hurried runner in early nineteenth-century attire. Reminiscent of the Goyaesque portrait completed by Valencia-born Spanish portraitist Vicente López y Portaña (September 19, 1772 – July 22, 1850) and displayed in the Prado, the anxious ghost flaunts:

• Elaborate-fronted, high-collared shirt;

• Fancy waistcoat;

• Velvet-collared jacket.

The time, venue, and wardrobe therefore hint at governmental concerns, what with royal prompts to the garden, hotel, and museum. But what particular cause or mission inspires panic-stricken, pell-mell flight? The phantom's speedy, worried body language in fact may project local dissatisfaction over royal rule but regional insecurities over non-royal alternatives. Goyaesque themes never stray too far from consideration of either above-mentioned governmental option.

Madrid’s Westin Palace Hotel appears on reservations of Spain’s first-time tourists. It assumes beloved retro designations -- Grande Dame (“Great Lady”), Hotel Palace -- with repeat sojourns. All re-visits configure new people to meet, places to go, and things to do. But they consider:

• The Hotel Palace’s activity rooms, bar, lobby, lounge, restaurant;
• The Royal Botanical Garden.

The two places flow together, like the Prado and the Parque del Buen Retiro (Pleasant retreat park). Ghostly appearances to garden-strolling hotel guests perhaps hallow that association. May their geography overlap emotionally, with the gentleman being so entranced with his yesteryear ensemble -- for a costume ball where the Palace now stands -- that he fatally stumbles while strolling with his fiancée?

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Madrid's grand Hotel Palace traces back to architectural preferences of King Alfonso XIII.
Retrato del Rey Don Alfonso XIII con el uniforme de husares de Pavía (Portrait of King Alfonso XIII in a Hussar's Uniform): 1907 oil on canvas by Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (February 27, 1863 – August 10, 1923)
Palacio Real de Madrid (Royal Palace of Madrid), central Spain: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joaquin_Sorolla_Retrato_Del_Rey_Don_Alfonso_XIII_con_el_Uniforme_De_Husares.jpg

elegant façade of Madrid's Hotel Palace, now owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide via their upscale brand, Westin Hotels & Resorts
Plaza de las Cortes, 7, 28014 Madrid, central Spain: Tiia Monto (Kulmalukko), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Madrid_-_Palace_Hotel.jpg

Stained glass cupola celebrates the Palace Hotel's winter garden (El jardín de invierno) with floral themes in Art Nouveau style.
Plaza de las Cortes, 7, 28014 Madrid, central Spain: John Mitchell from United States of America, CC BY SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palace_Hotel_(Madrid)_04.jpg; John M (jsmjr), CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/jsmjr/1287121882/

Westin Hotel Palace is the locale for sightings of ghostly appearances in the building's corridors by exotic dancer Mata Hari, executed as a spy during World War I (July 28, 1914 - November 11, 1918).
"Mlle Mata-Hari, de l'Odéon": Margaretha Geertruida "Margreet" Zelle MacLeod, known on stage as Mata Hari ("Eye of the Day"), in evening dress by Maison Buzenet of Paris
photo by François Chéri-Rousseau (September 14, 1826-December 1, 1908); Les Modes, no. 11 (février 1910), p. 25: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mlle_Mata_Hari_de_l'Odéon.jpg

Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid (Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid): haunted by a sorrowful beauty who is seen most often on garden's Hotel Palace side, along Paseo del Prada
Terraza de los Cuadros occupies the garden's northwestern corner, bounded northly by Puerta de Murillo, main entrance; westly by Paseo del Prada; southly by the garden's Paseo de Carlos III.
Terraza de los Cuadros includes edibles (such as cabbages), medicinals, ornamentals in 16 boxwood-hedged parterres.: Daderot, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Botanical_Garden,_Madrid_-_view_03.JPG

El pintor Francisco de Goya (Portrait of painter Francisco de Goya): 1826 oil on canvas by Vicente López y Portaña (September 19, 1772 – July 22, 1850)
Another sighting in botanical garden is of panic-stricken, hurried phantom, with appearance and dress reminiscent of Goya's portrait in the garden's neighbor, the Prado Museum.
Museo Nacional del Prado, central Madrid, central Spain: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vicente_López_Portaña_-_el_pintor_Francisco_de_Goya.jpg

Madrid's exquisite Real Jardín Botánico is a place for encounters with nature and with other-worldly visitors, some of whom seem borrowed from the garden's illustrious neighbors, Prado Museum and Westin Hotel Palace.
In garden's east section Terraza del Plano de la Flor includes such striking non-native evergreens as blue spruce (Picea pungens).: Daderot, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Botanical_Garden,_Madrid_-_view_08.JPG

Prado Museum, which shares vicinity to Royal Botanical Garden with Westin Hotel Palace, continues floral and spectral sightings through the garden's and museum's eastern neighbor, Retiro Park (Parque del Buen Retiro, "Park of the Pleasant Retreat").
Retiro Park's La Fuente del Ángel Caído (Fountain of the Fallen Angel), inspired by Lucifer's fall from heaven in John Milton's Paradise Lost, was designed by Ricardo Bellver (February 23, 1845-December 20, 1924) for Exposition Universe in Paris, 1878.
La Fuente del Ángel Caído at park's south roundabout intersecting Paseo de Cuba, Paseo del Uruguay and Paseo de Fernán Núñez: Felipe Gabaldón from Spain, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fuente_del_Ángel_Caído_(Retiro,_Madrid)_03.jpg

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (March 30, 1746 – April 16, 1828) is most extensively represented artist in Prado Museum; a lookalike phantom is sighted scurrying through Real Jardín Botánico, on Prado's southern border.
Puerta de Goya (Goya Gate), at Prado Museum's north façade, features statue of famed painter by Mariano Benlliure (September 8, 1862 – November 8, 1947).
Goya's statue is set in last set of steps leading from Calle de Felipe IV to the Prado.: José-Manuel Benito Álvarez (Locutus Borg), CC BY SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Puerta_de_Goya.jpg

Westin Hotel Palace occupies Dukes of Medinaceli's former property, site of their Madrid palace (center right) on Carrera de San Jerónimo at Paseo del Prado; (left) Congreso de los Diputados; (upper right) Iglesia de san Jerónimo el Real and Prado.
Property sold and demolished in 1895 via Ángela María Apolonia Pérez de Barradas y Bernuy (Feb. 9, 1827-Aug. 13, 1903), widow of XVth Duke of Medinaceli (1840-1873), Luis Fernández de Córdoba y Ponce de León (Sep. 18, 1813-Jan. 6, 1873).
1853 image by Spain-based Welsh photographer Charles Clifford (ca. 1820-January 1, 1863): CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Madrid,_Carrera_de_San_Gerónimo_y_Palacio_del_Congreso_(Charles_Clifford).jpg

Art Nouveau-styled Westin Hotel Palace's spectacular, welcoming lobby enchants guests, year after year drawing returning guests, including other-worldly visits in corridors by long-gone Mata Hari.
main entrance on Plaza de las Cortes; façades on (east) Plaza de Cánovas del Castillo, (west) Calle del Duque de Medinaceli: pegatina1, CC BY ND 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/pegatina1/4403660779/

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