That sometimes there is no better way to hide something than to leave it in plain sight is something that could be applied to the Culebra Bridge: located in the middle of Casa de Campo and being one of the most unique civil works of the eighteenth century -not in vain the Madrid City Council included it in its Catalog of monuments and urban elements as a work subject to maximum protection- the knowledge about its existence is as elusive as the animal that gives it its name or its authorship.
Although its design is often attributed to the Italian Sabatini, the Cultural Heritage and Urban Landscape Department of the Madrid City Council considers it possible that this Baroque work of 1782 was signed by someone else: “We are inclined not to consider it his, but perhaps by Antonio Carlos de Borbón“, they point out.
The indications that lead them to think so have to do with two aspects of the work: “its Borrominian originality” – alluding to the architect Borromini – and its location: specifically, it is situated on the Meaques stream, near its headwaters (it is accessed through the railings over the stream, from the road to Boadilla).
The importance of the Culebra Bridge
This bridge, which is also known as the Puente del Estrecho – “because of its insufficient width for the passage of carriages”- is considered to be the historic work of the Casa de Campo with the highest artistic rank of those that reached the II Republic.
It is built with brick and granite masonry, consists of four eyes with semicircular arches and its name comes from the winding and undulating forms so peculiar that characterize it and give it movement.