Estación de Carpetana

Useful Information

Location:	Estación de Carpetana (línea 6), Vía Carpetana, 141. (40.392700, -3.740990)
Open:	All year daily 6-1:30. [2022]
Fee:	free. Valid transport ticket required. [2022]
Classification:	Underground Museums
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	yes
Bibliography:
Address:	Estación de Carpetana (línea 6), Vía Carpetana, 141. Museos Metro de Madrid, Tel: +34-644-169-531. E-mail:
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History

01-JUN-1983	station opened to the public.
2008-2009	excavation of elevators and technical rooms, fossil remains discovered.

Description

The Estación de Carpetana is a rather new station of the Madrid Metro. It is one of numerous underground museums which are related to the Madrid Metro. They are called Andén Cero (Platform Zero) and are managed by Museos Metro de Madrid (Madrid Metro Museums). But unlike the other museums it is not a historic museum, it is a paleontological site. And it is not a separate museum, the exhibition is part of the subway station and open during the open hours of the Metro. There is no entrances fee, but you need a ticket for public transport to enter the station.

In 2008 and 2009, during the excavations of elevators and technical rooms, fossil remains from the Middle Miocene were discovered. More than 15,000 animal fossils were found, a wide variety of genera such as Anchitherium, Amphicyon, or Cheirogaster. Also remains of mastodons (Gonphotherium angustidens), deer (heteroprox), rhinoceroses, ruminants, giant tortoises, and primitive horses. Pollen and the remains of willows, poplars, oaks, beeches and firs were found. The station has an impressive exhibition of fossils and dioramas with the reconstruction of ancient megafauna and its habitat. The diorama contains a bear-dog, a bear-wolf, a feline, a giant tortoise, rhinoceroses and a wild boar. Also, a passage shows murals of the landscape, vegetation and animals when the fossils were deposited. The fossils are dated to be 14 million years old.

The exhibition was created by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas of the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid.