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SPAIN
© photographer Alexander Donchev; agency Dreamstime.com
Geography
Madrid is the heart of Spain, literally and figuatively. Home to the Spanish
Parliament, Spain's Royal Family, and five million Madrileños, Spain's capital
is not only her political center but also her intellectual and cultural core.
Located at the geographical centre of the Iberian peninsular, 646 metres above
sea level, Madrid is one of the western world's great capital cities, also one
of Europe's youngest. It did not become Spain's capital until King Philip ll
moved his court there from Toledo in 1561, when it blossomed from a provincial
backwater to become the hub of Spain's Golden Age of wealth and power. The
city inevitably drew art and culture to it, as where there are wealthy
patrons, there are artists.
The first thing you notice about Madrid is its energy... there is an
excitement, a vibrant presence in the air. The center of the city, el Centro,
streams outward from the Puerta del Sol; once an actual gate, it is now
Madrid's central thoroughfare, like London's Picadilly Circus. A dozen main
arteries converge into the plaza carrying traffic and pedestrians from all
quarters. Embedded in the sidewalk of the Plaza de Puerta del Sol is the
marker for kilometre 0, the starting point for six major highways. It is a
transportation nucleus, encircled by government buildings, overseen by an
imposing statue of King Carlos lll.
Surrounding the city of Madrid is the greater region of Comunidad de
Madrid, an autonomous administrative province bordered by Castilla y Léon
to the north and west, and Castilla La Mancha south and east. The region is
dotted with charming towns and villages... Patones and Chinchón,
Alcalá de Henares which is full of Renaissance architecture and is
also the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes; picturesque Cercedilla, and
lush, green Aranjuez with its magnificent gardens and royal palaces,
which has been named by UNESCO a World Heritage Cultural Landscape.
Dominating the countryside, an hour from Madrid lies the austere but
fascinating Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial. Part palace, part
monastery, part mausoleum, it stands as Philip ll's ultimate statement of
Spain's power in the sixteenth century. At a time when the extreme gothic
style known as plateresque was prominent, Escorial is noteworthy for its
somber granite bulk and lack of ornamentation. It was headquarters not only
for Philip's empire, but also for the Inquisition.
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© photo Alexandre Fagundes; agency Dreamstime.com
History & Heritage
Archeological excavations along the banks of the river Manzanares tell us that
the region of Madrid has been settled since the Lower Paleolithic age.
Inhabited down the centuries by Iberians and Romans, the most tangible
vestiges of Madrid's history come to us from the ninth century Moorish rulers.
The city's Arabic name was Magerit... mother of the waters, the name given to
the Moorish fortress on the bank of the Manzanares. Madrid was taken back from
the Moors in 1085 by Alfonso Vl as his forces advanced toward Toledo.
It was not until 1561 that King Philip II made Madrid, then a provincial
town of 25,000 souls, the capital of his expanding empire. The historic old
town, also known as 'Madrid de los Habsburgs', (as distinct from 'Madrid de
los Borbones'), holds the lion's share of extravagant sixteenth and
seventeenth century monuments, erected by an imperial power in full bloom.
Modern Madrid came into being in 1975 after the death of the facist dictator
Franciso Franco. Decades of the repressive regime had rendered Madrid, indeed
much of Spain, an economic wasteland. With his death, the spirit of the
Spanish people, held in check for so long, exploded back to life. 200,000
Madrilenos rediscovered their long-silent voices and took to the streets. The Movida
of the 1980's, the movement led by Madrid's intellectuals, students,
academics, and artists celebrating their re-emergence into the light of day,
created once again the vibrant spirit with which Spain began to reassert
herself as a player on the world's stage.
Best Sights
Plaza Mayor.
A cobblestoned, traffic-free pedestrian zone of arcades and towers and
immense charm, this square which was completed in 1620 was once an arena for
Imperial Spain's big events... bullfights, royal pageantry and the
Inquisition's autos de fe, the trying and burning of heretics, took
place here. The facades of the buildings sport rows of wrought iron balconies
which could be rented, like stadium boxes, by the wealthy. In the middle of
the plaza, the imposing statue of Philip lll on horseback was not erected
until 1847.
Plaza de le Villa
Situated between the Plaza Mayor and the Royal Palace, in the
sixteenth century the Plaza de la Villa was the heart of old Madrid. You can
still find remnants of Moorish influence and medieval architecture in the
courtyards and buildings in and around the square. The centerpiece is the
seventeenth century Ayuntamiento... City Hall, which was originally the
Mayor's residence as well as Madrid's jail. Next to it, the Casa de Cisneros
is the sixteenth century plateresque building named for Cardinal Cisneros who
was for a time, head of the Inquisition.
Palacio Real
King Philip V was the first of Spain's Bourbon monarchs, so the
Palacio Real is in 'Madrid de los Borbones', west of the city's historic el
Centro. Rivaling Versailles for its lavish collections of royal objets d'art,
the Palacio Real is a Baroque colossus of 2000 rooms, less than 50 of which
are open to the public. The vast majority of rooms in the palace were never
furnished and those that were took a century to complete. Comissioned by King
Philip V on the site of a former Alcazar which was destroyed by fire in 1734,
the Palacio Real is full of stunning art and treasures, and is still used by
Spain's Royalty for banquets and glittering state occasions which take place
among the priceless tapestries and chandeliers.
Madrid Articles
The Museums
The Prado
The Museo del Prado is Spain’s finest Museum containing one of
Europes most prestigious art collections... works spanning from the 12th
through 17th centuries of international art. With emphasis on Spanish,
Venetian and Flemish masters, the Prado contains over 3,000 paintings. Go
early, pick up a map and a museum guide and let Titian, Raphael, Tintoretto,
Botticelli, Bosch, Rubens, Goya, Velázquez, El Greco, Van Dyck, Dürer, and
Breughel overwhelm you.
The Reina Sofía National Art Centre
Dedicated to twentieth century Spanish contemporary art, the Reina
Sofia houses the best of the modernists and surrealists with works by Picasso,
Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí and Juan Gris, among others. The most famous of its
masterpieces is Picasso's civil war indictment, Guernica... a huge
canvas depicting the horrors of war as they were unleashed by the Nazis,
sanctioned by Franco, upon the village of Guernica in Northern Spain in 1937.
Picasso gave the work to the New York Museum of Modern Art for the duration of
the fascist regime with the understanding that it be returned to Spain when
democracy was restored.
The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum boasts an impressive collection, with
more than 800 paintings, sculptures and tapestries that span art history from
pre-Renaissance Italian to early Dutch masters, through Impressionism to the
most avant-garde trends. The Thyssen offers many lesser known works by some of
the greatest artists: Goya, Dalí, Miró and Picasso, as you might expect;
Degas, Cezanne, Matisse, and Renoir, as you might not.
© photo Mauro Bighin; agency Dreamstime.com
Cuisine & Culture
You might think that seafood would not feature prominently on menus in
landlocked Madrid, but you'd be wrong. True, Madrid's cuisine is replete with
wonderful aromatic roasted meats... roast suckling pig and roast baby lamb are
simple, hearty favorites, but Madrid is also one of the biggest fish and
seafood consuming cities in the world. The freshest fish and shellfish are
trucked in to the city every morning from the harbors of Galicia and Andalucia
.Look for Besugo al horno or baked bream, tender little Caracoles, snails, and
the many dishes in which Bacalao, cod, is the main ingredient.
Cocido a la Madrileña is probably Madrid's signature dish... a rich stew
of beef, vegetables and chickpeas, with variations which will find chicken or
sausage being added to the pot. Callos, or tripe is a staple of local cuisine,
as is sopa de ajo... garlic soup, and sopa castellana, a basic broth with an
egg in it. Tortilla, a simple potato omelet, can enchant your taste buds with
its rich flavors imparted from some of the best olive oil in the world.
Theater
Madrid's Teatro Royal, its state-of-the-art Opera House, has one of
the world's largest stages, seating over 1600 people. You can enjoy world
class opera featuring a wide range of productions... everything from the light
lyric of Mozart and Rossini, to the Grand opera of Verdi and Wagner. Teatro
Real has even begun to feature Zarzuela during its season... Spain's unique
blend of light opera and musical comedy. The theater is on the Plaza de
Oriente, near the Palacio Real. Outside of opera season, you might catch
symphony concerts, recitals or dance performances.
The Retiro
Formerly part of the hunting grounds of King Philip lV, the Retiro
Park is over 300 acres of lush gardens which was once the playground of
Spain's aristocracy when they wanted to escape the city. You can take a picnic
and people-watch, or rent a boat and row around the Estanque Grande, the big
rectangular lake in the middle of the park. On weekends the area around the
lake becomes a lively street fair with musicians and jugglers and fortune
tellers. Inside the park is the Palacio de Cristal, a beautiful steel and
glass conservatory which is often the site of art shows, flower shows and a
whole host of other exhibits.
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