Madrid Museums – Take a Tour of the Historic Underground!

Uncategorized — By on March 29, 2008 12:00 am


Museum: Estación de Chamberí/Andén 0

Hour: Tues-Fri: 11:00 to 19:00 hours, Sat-Sun and holidays: 10:00 to 14:00 hours

At the corner of Calle de Santa Engracia and Calle de Luchana

Metro: Bilbao and Iglesia

Entrance free

Andén 0 Website

by Jolijn van der Zanden

Perhaps you
remember that last year MAP Magazine tried to encourage you to smudge the
windows of metro line 1 to see the remains of the Chamberí station, which was closed in the sixties and
left untouched ever since. The metro cleaning team must have heaved a sigh of
relief last Monday when Mayor Gallardón opened ‘Andén 0’, the restored
station/museum that is finally ready to take you back in time.

On the very first
day the first metro line opened in Madrid in 1918, thousands and thousands of
people flocked to the stations to get a glance of this ultramodern super-innovation.
At the time, they were happy to wait and pay to see a bit of the future. Today,
dozens of people stand in line to see a historic station for free and have to
wait at least 20 minutes for a metro that will not stop. And believe me, they will
spend 15 minutes of that time moaning.

The entrance is new
– the original entrance was destroyed when the station closed – but shortly
after going down the stairs you will be embraced by nostalgia: tiles on the
walls, hand painted signs and wooden doors. Painted ads on tiles, iron ticket
offices with wooden chairs: yes, it is undoubtedly very, very sixties. Where
the original ads could not be restored, projectors beam images on the empty
spaces.

Is it worth your time? I think so. Andén 0
looks good, is well done and a short film gives you an impression of the
history of metro in Madrid.Still, I will miss the smudges the peering in the
dark, wondering what might be left. Madrid gains a museum but loses an
insiders-only mystery.