The Community of Madrid celebrates International Museum Day with a free literary recital at the Ópera Metro Station

The Community of Madrid commemorates International Museum Day by holding a literary event in the Los Caños del Peral gallery at the Ópera Metro station. The event will take place tomorrow from 8 pm to 9.30 pm and will consist of a dramatised reading of the story entitled Noche de piedra, papel y letras (Night of stone, paper and letters), by the essayist and writer Ignacio Caballero, and a guided tour of the museum. Admission is free and you only need to book in advance on the website museosmetromadrid.es.

The initiative of the Regional Ministry of Housing, Transport and Infrastructures aims to enhance the value of the historic sites on the Madrid underground. On that day, there will be a chance to visit the Ópera stop, which is home to a 200 square metre archaeological site dating from the 16th and 17th centuries. Specifically, we can see the fountain that collected the spring water next to the Arenal stream and which was originally 34 metres long; the barrel vault supply gallery and the sewer in the area; and the aqueduct that served the Royal Palace until practically the 20th century.

In addition, by means of information panels and three videos projected in a small amphitheatre, visitors will be able to discover the importance of the complex. This spring supplied the population of Madrid through a distribution system carried out by the water carriers, who could be water carriers with buckets, pitchers, jugs and glasses, and who became one of the most important guilds in the town.

With this activity, the public underground company aims to highlight the figure of its museum spaces such as the old Chamberí station, the Chamartín classic trains exhibition, the Engine Shed and the Pacífico hall. All of them can be found on the website museosmetromadrid.es and can be visited at weekends.