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The Real Botica del Palacio Real will reopen this autumn after more than a decade closed in Madrid
The Palacio Real de Madrid is preparing to recover one of its lesser-known corners. The Real Botica will reopen to the public in the last quarter of 2026, after being closed since 2013 and following a thorough restoration of its rooms, furniture, instruments, and collections.
The visit will allow entry into a space very different from the grand ceremonial halls of the palace. Here, the focus will be on the jars, containers, scientific apparatus, and furniture used over centuries to prepare and preserve medicines for the Casa Real.
The collection preserves pieces from the Real Fábrica de Cristales de La Granja and the Real Fábrica de Porcelana del Buen Retiro, as well as Talavera jars from the XVII y XVIII centuries, flasks, retorts, alembics, and numerous utensils used in pharmaceutical work.
One of the most distinctive spaces will be the Art Déco laboratory from the first third of the XX century, preserved as an almost unique example within Patrimonio Nacional. The tour will also include the apparatus room and the pharmacist's office, with a library that holds incunabula, pharmacopoeias, and old treatises on medicine, physics, and chemistry.
The history of the place goes back much further. Felipe II created the Real Botica in 1594, although its premises changed location several times. The current pavilion was built in 1887 in one of the wings of the Palacio Real and for generations functioned as a pharmaceutical centre serving the Court.
The restoration affects both the building and the collections. Patrimonio Nacional and the Consejo General de Colegios Farmacéuticos are working on the recovery of the historic containers, furniture, and bibliographic and scientific heritage, with the idea that the space can be visited from an educational perspective and not only as decoration.
The project is part of a much broader renovation of the Palacio Real. In recent months, the visitor reception centre, lighting, climate control, and various interior routes have also been changed, in addition to work on the roof, the Real Armería, and other historic spaces.
When the Botica reopens, Madrid will gain a visit that tells the story of the palace from a much more everyday perspective. Instead of thrones and grand ceremonies, it will show how remedies were prepared, what instruments the pharmacists used, and how medicine was also part of the daily life of those who lived behind the walls of Bailén.