The seat of the National Observatory is the Royal Observatory () in the
Parque del Buen Retiro. This historic observatory was built in 1790. Equipped with a Herschel telescope, it took over the purely astronomical work of the naval observatory, the
Real Instituto y Observatorio de la Armada, in the south of the country. The building was designed by
Juan de Villanueva and represents one of the highlights of Spanish
neoclassical architecture. Its domed lantern was conceived as a classical circular temple. The Observatory houses historic scientific equipment and can be visited by prior arrangement. There is also a library. ==Yebes Observatory==