Sights in Madrid
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Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
Home to Picasso’s Guernica, arguably Spain’s single-most famous artwork, and a host of other important Spanish artists, the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is Madrid’s premier collection of contemporary art. The collection principally spans the 20th century up to the 1980s.
In addition to Picasso’s Guernica, which is worth the admission fee on its own, the work of the Madrid-born Juan Gris (1887–1927) or Georges Braque (1882–1963) may appeal. The work of Joan Miró (1893–1983) is defined by often delightfully bright primary colours, but watch out also for a handful of his equally odd sculptures; his paintings became a symbol of the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.
Th…
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Plaza Mayor
Designed in 1619 by Juan Gómez de Mora, the stunningly beautiful Plaza Mayor is a highlight of any visit to Madrid. The grandeur of its buildings is one thing, but this is a living, breathing entity, from the outdoor tables of the terrazas to the students strewn across the cobblestones on a sunny day.
The plaza’s first public ceremony was the beatification of San Isidro Labrador, Madrid’s patron saint. Thereafter, bullfights watched by 50,000 spectators were a recurring spectacle until 1878, while the autos-da-fé (the ritual condemnation of heretics) of the Spanish Inquisition also took place here. Fire largely destroyed the square in 1790, but it was rebuilt and became …
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Parque del Buen Retiro
The splendid gardens of El Retiro are littered with marble monuments, landscaped lawns, the occasional elegant building and abundant greenery. It’s quiet and contemplative during the week, but comes to life on weekends. Put simply, this is one of our favourite places in Madrid.
Laid out in the 17th century by Felipe IV as the preserve of kings, queens and their intimates, the park was opened to the public in 1868 and ever since, whenever the weather’s fine and on weekends in particular, madrileños from all across the city gather here to stroll, read the Sunday papers in the shade, take a boat ride or nurse a cool drink at the numerous outdoor terrazas.
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Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza
One of the most extraordinary private collections of predominantly European art in the world, the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza is a worthy member of Madrid’s ‘Golden Triangle’ of art. Where the Museo del Prado or Centro de Arte Reina Sofía enable you to study the body of work of a particular artist in depth, the Thyssen is a place to immerse yourself in a breathtaking breadth of artistic styles. Most of the big names are here, sometimes with just a single painting, but the Thyssens’ gift to Madrid and the art-loving public is to have them all under one roof. Not surprisingly, it often ends up being many visitors’ favourite Madrid art gallery.
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Museo del Prado
This is one of the premier art galleries in the world. The more than 7000 paintings held in the Museo del Prado’s collection (although only around 1500 are currently on display) are like a window on the historical vagaries of the Spanish soul, at once grand and imperious in the royal paintings of Velázquez, darkly tumultuous in Las Pinturas Negras (the Black Paintings) of Goya and outward-looking with sophisticated works of art from all across Europe. Spend as long as you can at the Prado or, better still, plan to make a couple of visits – it can be a little overwhelming if you try to absorb it all at once.
Entrance to the Prado is via the eastern Puerta de los Jerón…
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Las Vistillas, Viaduct & Calle de Segovia
Jardines de las Vistillas, the leafy area around and beneath the southern end of the viaduct that crosses Calle de Segovia, is an ideal spot to pause and ponder the curious history of one of Madrid’s oldest barrios. Probably the best place to do this is just across Calle de Bailén where the terrazas (oper-air cafés) of Las Vistillas offer one of the best vantage points in Madrid for a drink, with views towards the Sierra de Guadarrama. During the civil war, Las Vistillas was heavily bombarded by Nationalist troops from the Casa de Campo, and they in turn were shelled from a republican bunker here. The adjacent viaduct, which was built in the 19th century and replaced …
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Plaza de la Cebada
Just west of La Latina metro station, the busy and bar-strewn corner of Madrid marked by the ill-defined ‘Barley Square’ is important to understanding what medieval Madrid was like, although it requires a little imagination. In the wake of the Christian conquest the square was, for a time, the site of a Muslim cemetery, and the nearby Plaza de la Puerta de Moros (Moors’ Gate) underscores that this area was long home to the city’s Muslim population. The square later became a popular spot for public executions – until well into the 19th century, the condemned would be paraded along Calle de Toledo, before turning into the square and mounting the gallows. The Teatr…
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Palacio Real
Spain’s lavish Palacio Real is a jewel box of a palace, although it’s used only occasionally for royal ceremonies; the royal family moved to the modest Palacio de la Zarzuela years ago.
When the Alcázar burned down on Christmas Day 1734, Felipe V, the first of the Bourbon kings, decided to build a palace that would dwarf all its European counterparts. Felipe died before the palace was finished, which is perhaps why the Italianate baroque colossus has a mere 2800 rooms, just one-quarter of the original plan.
The official tour leads through 50 of the palace rooms, which hold a good selection of Goyas, 215 absurdly ornate clocks and five Stradivarius violins still used …
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Plaza de Neptuno
Officially known as Plaza de Cánovas del Castillo, the next roundabout south of Cibeles is something of a crossroads of Spanish nobility. The Ritz and the Palace, two of Madrid’s longest-standing and most exclusive hotels, glower at each other across the plaza with self-righteous grandeur, while the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Prado do likewise in competition for the title of Madrid’s best loved repository of fine art. The centrepiece is an ornate fountain and 18th-century sculpture of Neptune, the sea god, by Juan Pascual de Mena. But madrileños, never the most reverent lot, know it better as the celebration venue of choice for fans of Atlético de Madrid who lose al…
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Plaza de Oriente
A royal palace that once had aspirations to be the Spanish Versailles. Sophisticated cafes watched over by apartments that cost the equivalent of a royal salary. The Teatro Real, Madrid’s opera house and one of Spain’s temples to high culture. Some of the finest sunset views in Madrid. Welcome to Plaza de Oriente, a gloriously alive monument to imperial Madrid.
At the centre of the plaza, which the palace overlooks, is an equestrian statue of Felipe IV, designed by Velázquez. If you’re wondering how a heavy bronze statue of a rider and his horse rearing up can actually maintain that stance, the answer is simple: the hind legs are solid while the front ones are hollow.…
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Plaza de la Cibeles
Plaza de la Cibeles evokes the splendour of imperial Madrid. The jewel in the crown is the astonishing Palacio de Comunicaciones. Completed in 1917 by Antonio Palacios, Madrid’s most prolific architect of the belle époque, it combines elements of the North American monumental style of the period with Gothic and Renaissance touches. It serves as Madrid’s town hall (ayuntamiento), with the central post office occupying the southwestern corner.
The spectacular fountain of the goddess Cybele at the centre of the plaza is also one of Madrid’s most beautiful. Ever since it was erected in 1780 by Ventura Rodríguez, it has been a Madrid favourite. The Cibeles fountain has al…
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Plaza de España
It’s hard to know what to make of this curiously unprepossessing square. The 1953 Edificio de España (Spain Building) on the east side clearly sprang from the totalitarian recesses of Franco’s imagination such is its resemblance to austere Soviet monumentalism, but there’s also something strangely grand and pleasing about it. To the north stands the rather ugly and considerably taller 35-storey Torre de Madrid (Madrid Tower). Taking centre stage in the square is a statue of Cervantes. At the writer’s feet is a bronze of his immortal characters, Don Quijote and Sancho Panza. The monument was erected in 1927. But Plaza de España is at its best down in its lower (west…
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Plaza de Lavapiés
The triangular Plaza de Lavapiés is one of the few open spaces in Lavapiés and it’s a magnet for all that’s good (a thriving cultural life) and bad (drugs and a high police presence) about the barrio. The Teatro Valle-Inclán, on the southern edge of the plaza, is a stunning contemporary addition to the eclectic Lavapiés streetscape. To find out what makes this barrio tick, consider dropping in to the Asociación de Vecinos La Corrala, just up the hill from the plaza, where staff are happy to highlight all that’s good about Lavapiés without dismissing its problems.
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Convento de las Descalzas Reales
The grim plateresque walls of the Convento de las Descalzas Reales offer no hint that behind the facade lies a sumptuous stronghold of the faith. Founded in 1559 by Juana of Austria, the widowed daughter of the Spanish king Carlos I, the convent quickly became one of Spain’s richest religious houses thanks to gifts from Juana’s noble friends. On the obligatory guided tour you’ll see a gaudily frescoed Renaissance stairway, a number of extraordinary tapestries based on works by Rubens, and a wonderful painting entitled The Voyage of the 11,000 Virgins. Some 33 nuns still live here and there are 33 chapels dotted around the convent.
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Plaza de la Puerta del Sol
The official centre point of Spain is a gracious hemisphere of elegant facades that’s often very crowded. In Madrid’s earliest days, the Puerta del Sol (Gate of the Sun) was the eastern gate of the city. Plaza de la Puerta del Sol comes into its own on New Year’s Eve, when madrileños pack into the square in their tens of thousands, waiting for the clock that gives Spain its official time to strike midnight. Look out for the statue of a bear nuzzling a madroño (strawberry tree); this is the official symbol of the city.
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11 March 2004 Memorial
This moving monument to the victims of the worst terrorist attack on European soil at Atocha station is partially visible from the street, but the glass tower is best viewed from below. A glass panel shows the names of those killed while the airy glass-and-perspex tower is inscribed with the messages of condolence left by well-wishers in a number of languages in the immediate aftermath of the attack. It’s simple but powerful. You may have to queue to enter.
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Gran Vía
One of Madrid’s signature boulevards, Gran Vía was bulldozed through central Madrid in 1911 in a muscular, if ultimately successful example of town planning. Dominating the skyline is the 1920s-era Telefónica building, while the boulevard’s southeastern end boasts the most spectacular façades, none more so than the stunning, French-designed Edificio Metrópolis (1905).
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Teleférico
One of the world’s most horizontal cable cars (never more than 40m above the ground) putters out from the slopes of La Rosaleda, a delightful stand of green perched on the ridge looking out over western Madrid. The teleférico (cable car) travels for 2.5km across into the depths of Casa de Campo, Madrid’s enormous green open space to the west of the city centre.
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Templo de Debod
Remarkably, this authentic 4th-century-BC Egyptian temple sits in the heart of Madrid, in the Parque de la Montaña. The Templo de Debod was saved from the rising waters of Lake Nasser, after the Aswan High Dam was built, and was sent block by block to Spain in 1968. The views from the surrounding gardens towards the Palacio Real are quite special.
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Palacio de Cristal
Legend has it that an enormous fortune buried by Felipe IV in the mid-18th century rests beneath the Fuente Egipcia (Egyptian Fountain) on the western side of the lake. Other highlights include the 1887 Palacio de Cristal, a charming metal-and-glass structure south of the lake, which hosts temporary exhibitions.
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Plaza de Toros Monumental de Las Ventas
The Plaza de Toros Monumental de Las Ventas (often known simply as Las Ventas) is not the most beautiful bullring in the world – that honour probably goes to Ronda in Andalucía – but it is the most important. A classic example of the neo- mudéjar style, it was opened in 1931 and hosted its first corrida (bullfight) three years later. Like all bullrings, the circle of sand enclosed by four storeys, which can seat up to 25, 000 spectators, evokes more a sense of a theatre than a sports stadium; it also hosts concerts; see p210. To be carried high on the shoulders of aficionados out through the grand and decidedly Moorish Puerta de Madrid is the ultimate dream of any tore…
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Museo de Cerralbo
Huddled beneath the modern apartment buildings northwest of Plaza de España, this noble old mansion is like an apparition of how wealthy madrileños once lived. The former home of the 17th Marqués de Cerralbo (1845–1922) – politician, poet and archaeologist – is a study in 19th-century opulence. The museum was closed for renovations at the time of writing, so for now you’ll have to admire it from the outside. When it reopens, the upper floor boasts a gala dining hall and a grand ballroom. The mansion is jammed with the fruits of the collector’s eclectic meanderings – from Oriental pieces to religious paintings and clocks. On the main floor are spread suits of armour from a…
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Plaza de la Villa
The intimate Plaza de la Villa is one of Madrid’s prettiest. Enclosed on three sides by wonderfully preserved examples of 17th-century barroco madrileño (Madrid-style baroque architecture: a pleasing amalgam of brick, exposed stone and wrought iron), it was the permanent seat of Madrid’s city government from the Middle Ages until recent years when Madrid’s city council relocated to the grand Palacio de Comunicaciones on Plaza de la Cibeles.
On the western side of the square is the 17th-century former ayuntamiento (town hall), in Habsburg-style baroque with Herrerian slate-tile spires. On the opposite side of the square is the Gothic Casa de los Lujanes, whose brick…
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Casa de la Moneda
The national mint (literally the ‘house of coin’) is a collectors’ treasure-trove of coins from Ancient Greece and Roman Spain and proceeds through the Byzantine, Visigothic and Islamic periods. The latter period is particularly well represented. Coins from the days of the Catholic Monarchs abound, and the collection continues through to the establishment of the peseta as the Spanish currency – only consigned to history by the introduction of the euro in 2002. Paper money ranges from a 14th-century Chinese note to revolutionary Russian cash. Also on display is an extensive collection of prints and grabados (etchings), lottery tickets since 1942 and stamps. You can…
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Estación de Chamberí
For years, madrileños wandered what happened to the metro station called Chamberí – they knew it existed yet it appeared on no maps and no trains ever stopped there. Over four decades later, the mystery has been solved. The answer was that Chamberí station lay along Line 1, between the stops of Bilbao and Iglesia, until 1966 when Madrid’s trains (and, where possible, platforms) were lengthened. Logistical difficulties meant that Chamberí could not be extended and the station was abandoned. In early 2008 the Estación de Chamberí finally reopened to the public, if not for trains, serving as a museum piece that re-creates the era of the station’s inauguration in 1919 with ad…
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