CentroCentro is located in one of Madrid’s most iconic buildings, the Cibeles Palace, which was formerly known as the Telecommunications Palace. It was designed at the beginning of the 20th century as the headquarters of the National Postal Service. Architects Antonio Palacios and Joaquín Otamendi won the state-organised tender for the project in 1904 with an outstanding proposal that featured a traditional design with a modern edge. They designed an eminently functionalist building that would accentuate not only the importance of the services that were to be provided but also its enviable location: the former site of Buen Retiro Palace’s pleasure gardens, located at the junction of two of the city’s main streets. Work on the building commenced at the end of 1907, and lasted 12 years, until it was inaugurated on 14 March 1919.

Encompassing an area of 12,207 m2 and built out of stone, iron and glass, the building -known at the time as Communications Cathedral- marked a turning point in Madrid’s town planning, coming to represent the embodiment of modernisation for a city in the midst of progress. For almost a hundred years it was the nerve centre of a powerful and effective communications system that covered all of Spain. In 1993 the building was declared a Place of Cultural Interest in the category of Monuments.

After its municipalisation in 2003, a process of transformation began to turn it into the seat of Madrid City Council and of a new cultural centre, with a project designed by architect Francisco Rodríguez de Partearroyo and the team at Arquimática.

CentroCentro opened on 27 March 2011.