Movie | The Vault (2021)

@Recognition told me about this movie.

The Bank of Spain Building is the main headquarters of the Bank of Spain. Located in Madrid, it lies at the crossing of the Calle de Alcalá and the Paseo del Prado.

• Works started on 4 July 1884, following a project by Eduardo Adaro and Severiano Sáinz de la Lastra.
• Finished by 1891, the building was inaugurated on 3 March 1891.
• The building endured a first enlargement process between 1932 and 1936.
• Further renovations were finished in 1969 and 2006.
• In December 1999, the building was declared Property of Cultural Interest, under the Monument descriptor.
• Source
• The Bank of Spain Building images

I have not seen the movie, but assume this here is the building they are talking about in the movie.


KD: If you wanted the movie, please share anything pertinent to the spirit of this blog.

• What "impenetrable fortress hidden under The Bank of Spain" are they talking about?

This is the palace that stood where the bank is now.

• Palacio del Marqués de Alcañices

“It is striking that just as the origin of the palace itself is paralleled with the Palacio de Lerma-Medinaceli, this too, like that, acquired its most elegant and refined appearance just a few years before its destruction.”

R: of course it did


Palace looks pretty similar to the bank.

Palacio del Marqués de Alcañices was sold in 1882 on the occasion of the works of extension of the calles Zorrilla and de los Madrazo, and today in part of the land that occupied the palace rises the building the Bank of Spain.

• It is striking that just as the origin of the palace itself is paralleled with the Palacio de Lerma-Medinaceli, this too, like that, acquired its most elegant and refined appearance just a few years before its destruction.
• During this period the palace lived certainly more its period most intense, particularly court of the Duke and his wife, the princess Sofia Sergeyevna Trubetskaya.

Why would they destroy something like this?

This is about a neighboring building that used to be nearby.

• From the Medinaceli Palace to the Palace Hotel. Before and after.

Check out what it says: In Madrid a singular building was never built next to another singular building; it was built directly on top.

• Such foolishness has caused us to lose an enormous number of palaces and churches of great artistic value.
• This is the case of the palace of the Dukes of Medinaceli, in the Plaza de Neptuno, which was demolished in 1895 to build another magnificent building: the Palace hotel.

Recognition said:

In Madrid a singular building was never built next to another singular building; it was built directly on top. Such foolishness has caused us to lose an enormous number of palaces and churches of great artistic value.

Click to expand...

That sounds like a bunch of plausible non-sense to me.

KorbenDallas said:

That sounds like a bunch of plausible non-sense to me.

Click to expand...

Yes, and it sounds like it’s regularly used, probably to explain fortresses under buildings!
Madrid city, not sure when, but this building sure looks damp and moldy.


The street it’s located on is interesting too: Calle de Alcalá is among the longest streets in Madrid. It starts at the Puerta del Sol and goes on for 11 km, to the northeastern outskirts of the city. Henry David Inglis described it in 1837 as "long, of superb width, and flanked by a splendid range of unequal buildings".


The street and the Fountain of Cybele depicted by David Roberts (c. 1838)

Here is a list of gorgeous tartarian style structures on this street.

Notable buildings:

• Teatro Alcázar
• Teatro Apolo
• Banco Bilbao Vizcaya
• Banco de España
• Banco Mercantil e Industrial de Madrid
• Buen Retiro Park
• Edificio de las Cariátides
• Casino de Madrid
• Centro Comercial Alcalá Norte
• Círculo de Bellas Artes
• Convento de la Natividad y San José
• Edificio del Banco de España
• Edificio Metrópolis
• Estación de Banco de España
• Fonda Peninsulares
• Café de Fornos
• Convento de San Hermenegildo
• Casa de los Heros
• Iglesia de las Calatravas
• Iglesia de San José (Madrid)
• Iglesia de San Manuel y San Benito
• Instituto Cervantes
• La Cruz de Malta
• Las Ventas
• Madrid Moderno
• Ministry of Education
• Palacio de Alcañices
• Palacio de Buenavista
• Palacio de la Equitativa
• Palacio de Linares
• Palacio de Torrecilla
• Plaza de Cibeles
• Plaza de la Independencia
• Puerta de Alcalá
• Puerta de la Independencia
• Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
• Real Casa de la Aduana
• Real Pósito de Madrid
• Café Suizo

There are so many beautiful structures, makes me wonder if they could all be part of the same structure. Reminds me of this pic of the Tower of Babel.
Could explain buildings built on top of each other!