Today, the Community of Madrid has given the parish priest of the Church of Santa María del Silencio, located in the complex of the former Maudes hospital designed by Antonio Palacios, a reproduction of the façade of the church so that deaf and blind parishioners can discover the religious site in a tactile way. The donated piece is a model that Metro de Madrid incorporated into the float of the last Epiphany Parade in the Spanish capital as a tribute to the architect on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth.

The Regional Minister for Housing, Transport and Infrastructure, Jorge Rodrigo, has held a meeting with Father Iñaki Gallego, head of this church and Spanish coordinator for the pastoral care of people with this disability, and the president of the Association of Deaf and Blind People in the region (Asociación de Personas Sordociegas, ASOCIDE), Raquel Alba, to donate, "this piece with great enthusiasm and on behalf of the regional government, so that it can have a new use in this emblematic building".

Rodrigo recalled that the event originated "from a request made by the parish itself following the parade on 5 January. Father Iñaki approached us to ask us to lend him the model, and this afternoon, we formalised the transfer, which will not be temporary but permanent".

The reproduction is 1.66 metres high by two metres wide and 0.81 centimetres deep, and is made of expanded polystyrene, treated with water-based resin and moulding putty and covered with acrylic paint. This figure is the work of the master Vicente Martínez, who has participated with his creations in the Fallas of Valencia for more than twenty years.

THE ARCHITECTURAL ENSEMBLE OF THE HOSPITAL DE JORNALEROS

The architectural ensemble in which the Church of Santa María del Silencio is integrated has its origins in the former Hospital de Jornaleros de San Francisco de Paula, in Calle Maudes in the Spanish capital.

The building was inaugurated in 1917 and remained in use until 1970, falling into a period of neglect. In 1984, following a public auction, the Community of Madrid acquired the part occupied by the Regional Ministry for Housing, Transport and Infrastructure.

Its author is the architect Antonio Palacios, whose 150th birthday is being celebrated, and who was the architect of the designs that gave rise to the first Metro stations, and other emblematic buildings such as the current headquarters of the City Council in Cibeles, the Cervantes Institute, which was formerly the Central Bank, and the Círculo de Bellas Artes.

Since 1973, the church has devoted its pastoral mission specifically to the evangelisation and care of deaf and blind people, carrying out important work in the field of this disability.