This building is the outcome of the commission by the Ministry of Public Works to the architect Ricardo Velázquez Bosco to build a venue for the exhibition of Mining, Metallurgical Arts, Ceramics, Glassware and Mineral Waters that was to be held in 1883. Located in the Retiro Park, next to the Large Pond, Velázquez Bosco proposed—according to contemporary journalistic chronicles—the planning and execution of all the pavilions comprising the venue, although there is only evidence of his involvement in the state-owned constructions. Of all of them, only the main pavilion remains, which would eventually be christened with the surname of its creator. Since 1884, the Palacio de Velázquez or Velázquez Palace, currently under the umbrella of the Ministry of Education and Science, has been used for various temporary exhibitions.