Crystal Palace of Arganzuela, Botanical garden in La Arganzuela district, Madrid, Spain.

The Crystal Palace of Arganzuela occupies a 7,100 m² rectangular steel-framed hall, the former Nave de Patatas of the Arganzuela municipal slaughterhouse. Inside, four enclosed zones create separate microclimates: two for tropical flora, one for subtropical plants, and one for cacti and desert species. Small fountains and cascades with fish and birds run among the planting.

The building was created in 1992 as part of the transformation of Matadero Madrid from a slaughterhouse and industrial complex into a cultural center. Reusing the existing structure made it possible to create this special place for plant research and public access.

The building is popularly known as the Nave de Patatas, the potato shed, a name kept from its slaughterhouse days. Next to the greenhouse stood a dalieda, an open-air garden of more than three hundred dahlia varieties, until 2008; in 2012 the site became an asphalted roller-skating area and the dahlias went to the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid and the Dalieda de San Francisco.

The palace sits on Paseo de la Chopera beside the Manzanares, within the former Matadero complex, and entry is free. The four glasshouses keep separate microclimates, so expect humid warmth in the tropical rooms and dry air among the cacti; dress in layers. Outside, gardens and swings surround the building, and the riverside park connects it to the rest of Arganzuela.

Until 2008 a dahlia garden stood beside the greenhouse, holding over three hundred varieties and some 3,000 specimens. When the Manzanares riverside park was reworked in 2012, the space became an asphalt roller-skating area and the dahlias went to the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid and the Dalieda de San Francisco.