DISCOVER MADRID
Sightseeing Guide to Attractions in Madrid with Pictures and Tips
Madrid is young as a national capital. Unlike other cities
whose importance is rooted in their country's origins, Madrid only
acquired its prime status in 1561. That was the year when Felipe II
(1528 -1598) who moved the court to Madrid. Philip II - son of the
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor - and great-grandson of the the Catholic
Monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand II of Aragon - adopted Madrid as the
permanent residence of the King of Spain
Starting life a Small Roman Settlement, Madrid was built by meandering
River Manzanares Among thick forest of beech, oak, ash and madroño
(strawberry tree). These "strawberry tree", together with the bear, have
become the emblem of the city. From 852 AD, the town grew under the
protection of a fortress (called an alcázar) erected by the emir of
Cordoba, Muhammand I. It was the rebuilt alcázar that Felipe II made his
permanent royal palace.
Before that Spain had no fixed capital, and the court was constantly on
the move between royal palaces situated in several diferent cities.
Isabel and Ferdinand reportedly carried their court around on 62
ox-carts! Felipe chose Madrid both for its pleasant location on the
central heights of Castille, and because it was politically neutral in a
still unsettled country. A provincial backwater with less than 20,000
inhabitants in the 16th century, within tow generations the population
had soared to 175,000. Such was the attraction of Felipe's royal court -
and the effect of the riches that poured in from the Spanish colonies
throughout the New World.
Madrid continued to flourish under his successor. Felipe II costructed
the Plaza Mayor, and Felipe V began the present Palacio Real after the
original royal alcázar was destroyed. Carlos III completed the palace
and extended Madrid to the east, initiating the building of the Prado -
now one of the world's most prestigious art galleries. It was his son,
Carlos IV, who elevated Goya to the position of Official Court Painter.
Today, Madrid is a thriving modern city, home to a population of arourd
3 milion - the capital and symbol of unified Spain.
SIGTHTS TO SEE.
Barrio Lavapiés.
The Barrio Lavapiés is the old Judería (Jewish
Quarter). Like Moors, Jews were forced to live outside the city walls
after the Christian reconquest hit Madrid in 1085; this was one of the
suburbs they founded.
Plaza Lavapiés.
This is the heart of historic Jewish barrio. To the left it the
Calle de la Fe, which was called Calle Sinagoga until the expulsion of
the Jews in 1492 (permanently expelled in 1614). The Church of San Pedro
el real (Royal St. Peter) was built on the site of the razed synagogue.
Legend has it that Jews and Moors who chose baptism over exile were
forced to walk up this street barefoot to be baptized as a demonstration
of the sincerity of their new faith.
Top Calle de la Fe
Cárcel de la Inquisicion.
Inquisision Jail. For a chilling reminder of the depth of Catholic
Monarchs' intollerance, stop at the southeast corner of Calle Cabezza
and Calle Lavapiés. Unmarked by any historical plaque, the former jail
is now a lumber warehouse. Here Jews, Moors, and other designated
unrepentant heathens or sinners suffered the many tortures devised by
merciless inquisitors.
Casa de Cervantes.
A plaque marks the house where the author of Don Quixote lived and died.
The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, epic story of
the man with the impossile dream is said to be world's most widely
translated and read book after the Bible.
Calle Cervantes
Casa de Lope de Vega.
The home of Lope de
Vega, a contemporary of Cervantes, has been turned into a museum
that shows how a typical home of the period was furnished.
Considered the Shakespeare of Spanish literature, Lope de Vega (1562
-1635) wrote some 1,800 plays and enjoyed huge success during his
lifetime.
Calle Cervantes 11
Plaza Santa Ana.
This Plaza was the heart of the theater disctrict in the 17th
century - the golden age of Spanish literature - and is now the center
of Madrid's thriving nightlife. In the plaza is a statue of 19th century
playwright Pedro Calderón de la Barca (Joan Figueras Vila 1880) delivering one of his own lines.
Barca's likeness faces the Teatro Español, which is adorned with the
names of Spain's greatest playwrights. The theater, rebuilt in 1980
following a fire, stands in the same spot where plays were performed as
early as the 16th century, at that time in a rowdy outdoor setting
called a corral. These makeshift theaters were usually installed
in a vacant lot between tow apartament buildings, and families with
balconies overlooking the action rented out seats to wealthy patrons of
the arts.
The Casa de Guadalajara, with a ceramic-tile facada, is one of the most
beautiful buildings in Madrid and currently a popular nightspot. It
faces the Teatro Español across the Plaza Santa Ana. The recently
refurbished Hotel Victoria, on the Plaza Santa Ana, is now an upscale
establishment but was once a rundown residence frequented by famous and
not-so-famous bullfighters, including Manolete.
San Nicolás.
The predecessor of this plain, modern church was burned in 1936,
a story vividly described by Arturo Barea in his autobiographical
"The Forge". Little of the original structure remains. Like many
other churches during that turbulent period, the original church of
St. Nicholas fell to wrath of working-class crowds who felt that
they were the victims of centuries of clerical oppression.
Atocha and Plaza Anton Martin.
Cine Doré A rare example of Art Neveau architecture in Madrid. Filmoteca
Calle Santa Isabel 3
Puerta Alcalá
Making the spot of the ancient city gates, the triumphanl arch was
built by Carlos III in 1778. You can still see the bomb damage inflicted
on the arch during the civil war.
WALKING TOUR IN MADRID.
Plaza Mayor.
Austere, grand, and surprisingly quiet compared to the rest of the
city, this arcaded square has see it all: autos da fé
(trials of faith, that is, pulic burnings of heretics); the canonization
of saints; criminal execution; royal marriages; such as that of Princess
Maria and King of Hungary in 1629; bullfights (until 1847); masked
balls; fireworks; and all manner of events and celebrations. It still
hosts fairs, bazaars, and performances.
Measuring 360 by 300 ft, Madrid's Plaza Mayor is one of the largest
and grandest public squares in Europe. It was desiged by Juan de
Herrera, the architect to Felipe II and designer of the forbidding El
Escorial monastery, outside Madrid. Construction of the plaza lasted
just tow years and was finished in 1620 under Felipe III, whose
equestrian statue stands in the center. The inauguration cerimonies
included the canonization of four Spanish saints: Teresa of Avila,
Ignatius of Loyola, Isidro (May 15, San Isidro Labrador - Madrid's
patron saint), and Francis Xavier.
Prior to becoming the Plaza Mayor, this space was occupied by a city
market, and many of the surrounding streets retain the names of the
trades and foodstuffs once headquartered there. Nearby are Calle de
Cuchilleros (Kinifemakers' Street), Calle de Lechuga (Lettuce Street),
Calle de Fresa (Strawberry Street), and Calle de Botoneros (button
makers' Street). The plaza's oldest building is the one with the
brightly painted murals and the gray spires, Casa de la Panadería ( the
bakery) in honor of bread shop on top of which it was built. Opposite it
is the Casa de la Carnicería (the butcher shop), now a police station.
The plaza is closed to motorized trafic, making it a pleasant place to
sit in the sun to while away a warm summer evening at one of the
sidewalk cafés, watching alfresco artists, street musicians, and
Madrileños from all walks of life. At Christmas the plaza fills with
stalls selling trees, ornaments, and nativity scenes, as well as all
types of pratical jokes and tricks for December 28, Día de los
Inocentes, a Spanish version of April Fool's Day.
Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Almudena
The first stone of the cathedral (which adjoins the Royal Palace to
the south) was laid in 1883 by King Alfonso XII, (the first project
designed by Francisco de Cubas in 1883); the whole was
consacrated by Pope John Paul II in 1993. The building was intended to
be Gothic-style, with needles and spires, but as time ran long and money
ran short, the design was simplified by Fernando Chueca Goitia
(1911-2004) into the more austere, classical form you see today. The
cathedral house the remains of Madrid's male patron saint, St. Isidro,
and a wooden statue of Madrid's female patron saint, the Virgin of
Almudena, which is said to have been discovered following the
Christian reconquest of Madrid in 1085. Legend has it that a divinely
inspired woman named Maria led authorities to a secret spot in the old
wall of the Alcázar (which in Arabic can also be called " almudeyna "),
where the statue was found framed by two lighted candles inside a grain
storage vault. That wall is part of the cathedral's foundation.
Calle de Bailén
Puerta del Sol.
Always crowded with both people and exhaust fumes, Sol is the nerve
center of Madrid's traffic. The city's main subway interchange is below,
and buses fan out through the city from here. A brass plaque in the
sidewalk on the south side of the plaza marks Kilometer 0, the spot from
which all distances in Spain are measured. The restored 1756 French
neoclassical building near the maker now house government offices, but
during the Franco period it was used as a political prison and is still
known as the Casa de los Gritos (House of Screams). Across the square is
a bronze statue of Madrid's official Symbol, a bear and a " madrono"
(strawberry tree).
Palacio Real. Royal Palace.
The Royal Palace was commissioned in the early 1738 by first of
Spain's Bourbon rules, Felipe V, on the same strategic spot where
Madrid's first Alcázar ( Moorish fortress ) was built in the 9th century
Before entering, take time to walk around the graceful Patio de
Armas and admire the classical French architecture. King Felipe was
obviously inspired by childhood days with his grandfather Louis XIV at
Versailles. Look for the stone statues of Inca prince Atahualpa and
Aztec king Montezuma, perhaps the only tributes in Spain to to these
pre-Columbian American rules. Notice how the steep bluff drops westward
to the Manzanares River; on a clear day, this vantage point also
commands a good view of the mountain passes leading into Madrid from Old
Castile, and it becomes obvious why the Moors picked this particular
spot for a fortress.
Inside, the palace's 2,800 rooms complete with each other for over the
top opulence. A nearly two hour guided tour in English winds a mile-long
path through the palace. Highlights include the " Salón de Gasparini ",
King Carlos III's privates apartments a riot of rococo decoration, with
swirling, inlaid floor and curlicued, ceramic wall and ceiling
decoration, all glistening in the light of a 2-ton crystal chandelier;
the "Salón de Trono", an exceedingly grand throne room with the royal
seats of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía; and the banquet hall, the
palace's largest room, which seats up to 140 people for state dinners.
No monarch has lived here since 1931, when Alfonso XIII was hounded out
of the country by a populace fed up with centuries of royal oppression.
The current king and queen live in the far simpler Zarzuela Palace, on
the outskirts of Madrid, using this Royal Palace only for state
functions and official occasion, such as the first Middle East peace
talks, in 1991.
Within the palace, you can also visit the Biblioteca Real (Royal
Library), which has a first edition of Cervantes's Don Quixote; the
Museo de Música (Music Museum), where five stringed instruments by
stradivarius form the world's largest collection; the Armeria Real
(Royal Armory), with its vast array of historic suits of armor and some
frightening medieval torture implements; and the Real Oficina de
Farmacía (Royal Pharmacy), with an assortment of vials and flasks that
were used to mix the king's medicines.
Plaza de Oriente Madrid |
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TRAVEL GUIDE MADRID
Tourism Guide essential tourist information orgenized tours in Madrid
Spain Tours
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DESCRIPTION TOURIST ITINERARIES GUIDED TOURS SPAIN. A travel guide with
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