Bonaparte Tunnel Reopens: Madrid’s Secret Royal Escape Route

Madrid's historic Bonaparte Tunnel, commissioned by King Joseph I for safety, reopened on Jan 20, 2026, after reconstruction. Dug in 1810, this 50m underground passage connected royal residences, serving as a vital escape route.

The tunnel enabled the king to travel from the gardens of the Royal residence (now the Campo del Moro Gardens) to the Casa de Vargas, a much more austere palace situated in the Casa de Campo, the royal searching premises. Bonaparte was obsessed with safety and security because he recognized the hostility the Spanish people felt in the direction of him, provided his sibling Napoleon’s resolution to install him as king of Spain, in truth a plain appendage of the French emperor.

The Reconstructed Passage

The open and restored area, with its stonework and brickwork, is a little component of a complicated system. A pathway has additionally been installed to make sure that site visitors can check out the tunnel. Once the deal with the section handled by the Madrid City board is finished, the underpass will be totally obtainable.

On January 20, 2026, the historical area of the Villanueva Tunnel, also known as the Bonaparte Tunnel due to the fact that it was commissioned by King Joseph I, Napoleon Bonaparte’s older brother, was reopened to the general public after its reconstruction.

King Joseph’s Retreat

Madrid was a hostile environment, specifically after the misuses committed during the French profession. Additionally, the continuous guerrilla war threatened his physical safety and security. He commissioned his designer, Juan de Villanueva, the designer of the Prado Museum, to create a retreat course in case things took a turn for the worse.

Later, the Campo del Moro gardens were landscaped throughout the power of Isabella II and the regent Maria Christina of Habsburg, although the project underwent subsequent adjustments. At the end of the 19th century, the designer Enrique Repullés Segarra and the garden enthusiast Ramón Oliva remodeled the tunnel to provide it a much more natural look, attuned to the new style of the bordering area.

The passage was dug deep into in 1810, a year prior to his fatality, and was one of his last layouts. It was no little accomplishment: 50 meters underground, attaching the Campo del Moro yards with the Casa de Campo, and vast sufficient for a horse-drawn carriage to go through. A bridge over the Manzanares River completed the brief trip. It was never made use of by Joseph during his brief regime, and the tunnel was put at the solution of the brand-new king, Ferdinand VII, that purchased the construction of the Puente del Rey (King’s Bridge) over the Manzanares River, hence finishing the connection between the imperial houses.