of Alcalá. The work officially commenced on 12 September 1907. The works were awarded to the Toran and Harguindey Society. The engineer Ángel Chueca Sainz was in charge of calculating the new building's metal structures, Chueca Sainz was the father of the distinguished architect Fernando Chueca Goitia. The construction started quickly and the people gave it the humorous name ‘Nuestra Señora de las Comunicaciones’ (Our Lady of Communications) because of its monumental character and size. In 1916 it first opened its doors to the Public Postal Savings Bank (Caja Postal de Ahorros) despite the building not being completed until 1918. The construction materials required quickly brought the el Paseo del Prado to a standstill as between one thousand five hundred and two thousand tons of iron, seven thousand cubic meters of stone and a huge quantity of bricks were required. Groups of artists and artisans were organised by the sculptor Ángel García. Among them were the ceramist Daniel Zuloaga, who suspended his involvement and Manuel Ramos Rejano, from the Sevillian ceramists, sculpted the interior decoration. By 1916, many of the finished façade elements were visible to passers-by from the street below. The media announced that Francos Rodríguez (as Director General of Communication) and Santiago Alba (as Minister of the Interior) were to visit the construction. Interior building works were concluding between 1916 and 1918. The cost of the building was at the time twelve million pesetas, almost three times the initial amount proposed. Inauguration and beginning After twelve years of construction, the building was officially opened at midday on 14 March 1919, with the name ‘Catedral de las Comunicaciones’ (Cathedral of Communications). The royal couple, Alfonso XIII and his wife Victoria Eugenie, attended the celebration accompanied by members of the government. Their visit lasted two hours. The palace was at the time a symbol of national progress, modernity and the ideas of regenerationism that were taking root in the media and in some of the intellectuals of the age. The palace became the hub of communications in Madrid at the beginning of the twentieth century. After just one year, the palace became the international headquarters of the Universal Postal Union (UPU). One of the first responsibilities of the palace was to deal with postal traffic. Palm trees were planted in the Plaza de Cánovas during the 1920s. In 1927 saw the construction of the rear half of the Bank of