A year later the first stone of the present palace was laid. The foundation-stone bore a commemorative description and enclosed a leaden casket, containing gold, silver, and copper coins from the mints of Madrid, Seville, Mexico, and Peru. The work of ensuring the solidity of the foundations by moulding them into the western slope of the hill cost an enormous sum of money, entailed an immense amount of labour, and occupied a proportionately extensive period of time. In 1808 the palace had cost 75,000,000 pesetas, and the subsequent alterations, which included the enclosing of the Campo del Moro with a wall and gilded railing, brought up the sum total to the enormous sum of over 100,000,000 pesetas. Philip died in 1746, long before the palace he had projected was near completion. The work went on through the thirteen years’ reign of Philip VI., and when Charles III. came to Madrid in 1759 he recognised that unless the rate of progress was accelerated he would have to occupy the building at the Buen Retiro for the rest of his life. Under his resolute authority the work was pushed on with more vigour, and it was ready for his occupation on 1st December 1764. It had taken over a quarter of a century to build, it had cost Spain three millions sterling, but it gained the place that Philip V. anticipated for it among the palaces of the world. It has been said, and the statement is but slightly exaggerated, that our own Buckingham Palace looks shabby and insignificant beside this vast pile of shimmering, white masonry, this truly royal residence, this unique museum, which contains every variety of art treasures. The architecture selected is the unpoetical but imposing style of the late Renaissance, and the regularity of the exterior is redeemed from monotony by Ionic columns, pilasters, and balconies. The massive building, 500 feet square and 100 feet in height, forms a huge quadrangle, enclosing a court, while two projecting wings form the Plaza de Armas. The base of the building, which is composed of three stories above the ground-floor, is of granite, and the upper portion is of the beautiful white stone of Colmenar, which gleams like marble. The lower portion is plain, massive, and severe, and the appearance of the third story is marred by the square port-holes of the entre-súelos. A wide cornice runs round the top, and above it a stone balustrade, on the pedestals of which stand rococo vases. In accordance with the first plans of the palace, the whole of this balustrade was surmounted by statues, but these were removed on account of their great weight, and are now scattered all over Madrid.