A table set for kings and queens

The dining room is the largest room of the Royal Palace. Above the long table, which can seat more than 100 people, is a central ceiling mural representing the glory of the Spanish empire, which once spanned the world. I imagine the kings and queens of the latter part of the 19th century, dining here under the symbols of an empire that was fast slipping from their grasp as in the bars and cafes of the capital, intellectuals grappled with the concomitant crisis of national identity.