The Beti-Jai in Madrid, a historical gem open to the public: a hidden fronton court that you can visit for free

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The Beti-Jai fronton, in Madrid, is celebrating its anniversary, and will celebrate it by opening to the public again. Many are unaware of this hidden gem of the Chamberí neighborhood, (Marqués de Riscal street number 7), a building declared a Site of Cultural Interest in 2011 that served to host meetings of this sporting specialty at the end of the 19th century..

With a capacity for 4,000 spectators, it stopped operating in 1919, and pavilions were built on the open-air field to house cars.. It had various uses such as a car workshop, police station, prison, plaster and papier-mâché object workshop, among others.. It is the only pediment that remains standing in the capital and is the work of architect Joaquín Rucoba, author, among others, of the Arriaga theater and the Bilbao City Hall, the bullring and the Alfonso XII market in Malaga.. He had built a similar pediment in San Sebastián.

The Beti-Jai Frontón will open visits to the public in 2024. Finally, after years of requesting that visits be regular instead of sporadic, it will be possible to visit and get to know Beti-Jaihttps://t.co/PIWNAa9f80 pic.twitter.com/xyoEXgXwI8

— Frontón Beti-Jai (@betijaimadrid) October 1, 2023

In 2015, the City Council completed the expropriation process and acquired the Beti-Jai, thus beginning the work to recover it without altering its essence.. The rehabilitation works were completed at the beginning of 2019 and during this process meticulous research work was carried out so that the new one was as faithful as possible to the original.

Other projects

Thus, the delegate of Culture, Tourism and Sports, Marta Rivera de la Cruz, has announced that, during the first months of 2024, everything will be ready for citizens to enjoy the fronton again.. Rivera de la Cruz has indicated that since 2020, after its restoration in 2019, until now, the facilities have received close to 24,000 visitors in a restricted manner.

On the other hand, the Culture delegate has also indicated that among the projects planned for this term is the opening of the El Capricho Museum and the restoration of the Casa Vargas and the Pavilion of the Hexágonos. Also the rehabilitation of the so-called Arco de la Victoria in the Moncloa area, the launch of the Typographic Printing Workshop of the Municipal Printing Press-Arts of the Book and the edition of the Poetry Collection.