Madrid’s Ice Palace complex reopens after housing emergency C0vid-19 morgue

Madrid’s Palacio de Hielo, or Ice Palace, leisure and shopping complex has reopened this week after housing an emergency morgue at the height of the C0vid-19 pandemic.

THE indoor skating rink was converted into a overflow morgue for coronavirus victims on March 23, as funeral services struggled to cope with the fatalities.

It functioned as a temporary morgue until April 22 and after housing nearly 1,200 bodies of coronavirus victims, has become a symbol of the tragedy.

Aware of this, the centre’s assistant manager, Maribel Bermúdez de Castro praised the Military Emergency Unit (UME), which guarded and managed the rink during this period, and told Efe, it’s time to move forward.

She said: “We have seen the respect with which the UME has treated the bodies of the deceased who have been here, they have not left them alone for a moment, I can feel nothing but admiration.

“Now it is another new stage, and we must continue to move forward, encouraging our merchants a lot and hoping that everything will return to its former self as soon as possible.”

The majority of shops have reopened this week in phase 2, but the skating rink itself won’t be back in action until September.

It is currently thawed and empty, with its lights off for most of the day – a harsh reminder of the crisis.

The centre, and the rink in particular, has undergone a programme of “deep” disinfection ready.

Cinemas will reopen on June 26, as will the bowling alley, and the gymnasium on June 22.

The bowling alley is currently being expanded.

Its manager, Alejandro Gomez, told Efe that after these “sad” months they decided to improve the space to make it “more exciting” with a “renewed and improved” atmosphere.