ARTnews’ Madrid Journey & Tradition Information for Should-See Points of interest

With 3.4 million inhabitants, Madrid is the second-largest metropolis within the European Union, and with about 45 museums, it’s one among Europe’s most sturdy cultural facilities. Landmarks in Spain’s capital metropolis embody Plaza Mayor, the Royal Plalace, the Nationwide Library, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, the Reina Sofía Museum, and the Prado Museum, one of many most-visited museums on the earth. If you wish to see the perfect that Madrid has to supply, seek the advice of our record of 20 must-see landmarks and cultural locations under.

Puerta del Sol

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Puerta del Sol (“Gateway of the Solar”) is to Madrileños what Occasions Sq. is to New Yorkers and what St. Mark’s Sq. is to Venetians. Partly closed to site visitors, it’s the metropolis’s foremost plaza, the middle (kilometer 0) of a community of Spanish roads. Dubbed “Spain’s stomach button,” it was really named after a Fifteenth-century gate (puerta) that featured a rising solar (sol) on its entrance. This widespread spot has been a pivotal assembly level all through the town’s historical past and a magnet for New 12 months’s revelers. It is usually a gathering level for political demonstrations, reminiscent of protests towards the Iraq Battle in 2003.
Rastro Market

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With some 3,000 open-air stalls, El Rastro is one among Europe’s hottest flea markets. Each Sunday since 1740, from 9 a.m. to three p.m., the Ribera de Curtidores space, positioned between the Calle Embajadores (Ambassador’s Road) and the Ronda de Toledo, has teemed with road distributors promoting the whole lot from faux Prada footwear to rosaries and non secular relics to handmade equipment and antiques. It’s inconceivable to see the whole lot in a single go to, however you possibly can set out from the Plaza de Cascorro, the place stands a bronze statue devoted to Eloy Gonzalo, a Cuban conflict hero, and the place locals catch up as soon as every week over midmorning vermouths and tapas. Certainly, meals is a necessary a part of the Rastro expertise. Make certain to take a look at Bar Santurce for a glass of sherry and a plate of spit-roasted sardines earlier than shifting on.
Puerta de Alcalá

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Erected in 1778 by Italian architect Francesco Sabatini, this triumphal arch served for years as the principle entrance to Madrid. King Charles III commissioned it as a substitute for a gate that had left him unimpressed when he first arrived within the metropolis in 1759. The neoclassical monument, positioned subsequent to Parque del Retiro in the midst of Plaza de la Independencia, is a junction level for 3 of Madrid’s best-known streets—Calle de Alcalá, the town’s longest highway; Calle de Alfonso XII, which results in the Atocha practice station; and Calle de Serrano, with its luxurious flagship shops. Puerta de Alcalá, manufactured from Colmenar limestone, was named after the highway that used to result in the close by city of Alcalá de Henares, the birthplace of author Miguel de Cervantes. The 4 kids featured alongside the highest of the arch are an allegory of the cardinal virtues: fortitude, justice, temperance, and prudence.
Templo de Debod

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The historical past of this temple dates again to the second century BC when the Meroë King Adijalamani had a chapel in-built Nubia for the god Amun and the goddess Isis. His successors within the Ptolemaic dynasty had new rooms added across the unique construction, and emperors Augustus and Tiberius, and maybe Hadrian as properly, completed the development and ornament of the positioning. The temple was sealed and deserted within the sixth century AD, till the Egyptian authorities determined to present it to Spain in 1968. It was transferred to Madrid and reconstructed brick by brick between 1970 and 1972 within the metropolis’s Quartel de la Montaña Park.
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

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The Reina Sofía is positioned inside strolling distance of Madrid’s different two main museums, the Prado and the Thyssen-Bornemisza. It’s housed in a former neoclassical hospital (Hospital San Carlos) constructed within the sixteenth century, prolonged within the 18th century at Charles III’s request by architects José de Hermosilla and Francisco Sabatini, and expanded once more between 2001 and 2005 by French architect Jean Nouvel. The 25,000-piece everlasting assortment, which focuses on up to date artwork from the Eighties to the current day, was formally inaugurated in 1992. In 2021 it underwent a reorganization designed, in response to former director Manuel Borja-Villel, to make the museum not solely a spot to go to however a spot to expertise, and to interact with up to date points reminiscent of local weather change and gender fluidity.
Plaza Mayor

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In the course of this grand central sq., located in one of many oldest components of Madrid, stands an equestrian statue of King Philip III, begun by Flemish sculptor Giambologna and accomplished by his pupil Pietro Tacca in 1616. Plaza Mayor was constructed on high of Plaza del Arrabal, the positioning of Madrid’s busiest market till the late sixteenth century. This majestic open area, initially used to host coronations and bullfights, amongst different occasions, is dwelling to Madrid’s Christmas market and Easter drum parade. When you go to, don’t miss Casa de la Panadería. Constructed round 1590, this former bakery, successively changed into royal chambers, the San Fernando Royal Academy of Tremendous Arts, and the Academy of Historical past, now homes the Plaza Mayor Vacationer Info Middle in addition to the Tienda Casa de la Panadería, a store that focuses on native craftsmanship. Make certain to have a look at the façade coated with mythological frescoes created in 1992 by artist Carlos Franco.
Catedral de la Almudena

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The development of Madrid’s cathedral has an extended and torturous historical past. Earlier than turning into the fantastic monument that it’s at this time, it was designed in 1879 by Francisco de Cubas as a church dedicated to the late Queen Maria de la Mercedes. When Pope Leo XIII created the Madrid-Alcalá bishopric in 1885, a grander constructing was known as for, and Cubas modified his plans, drawing inspiration from the French 18th-century Gothic cathedrals of Reims and Chartres. A number of architects took over after he died, however the undertaking was suffering from sporadic donations, restricted budgets, and delays. In 1939, after numerous setbacks, plans for the cathedral modified once more as a result of the Gothic aesthetic was now not in fashion. In 1950, building resumed underneath the aegis of architects Fernando Chueca Goitia and Carlos Sidro. The cloister and the façade have been completed in 1955 and 1960, respectively, however the cathedral was not accomplished till 1993. It now doubles as a museum housing statues of the town’s patron saints—the Virgin Mary of los angeles Almudena and San Isidro Labrador—in addition to a everlasting exhibition in regards to the cathedral’s fraught historical past.
El Retiro

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El Retiro Park, or Buen Retiro Park, is without doubt one of the metropolis’s most engaging inexperienced areas, the property of the Spanish monarchy till changing into a public place in 1869. This UNESCO World Heritage web site is full of 15,000 bushes and is dwelling to varied monuments, such because the Velasquez Palace and the cast-iron Glass Palace, in addition to a wide range of gardens. There may be additionally Parterre Francés, which holds what’s believed to be Madrid’s oldest tree—a 400-year-old Mexican conifer. On the northern entrance is the Estanque del Retiro, a big synthetic pond round which Madrileños get pleasure from strolling; you may also lease a rowboat there.
Palacio Actual

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Building on Madrid’s Royal Palace started in 1738 on the request of Philip V, 4 years after a hearth razed the Palace of Los Austrias. It was the residence of the kings of Spain from Charles III to Alfonso XIII. Impressed by Bernini sketches for Paris’s Louvre, the palace options 3,000 rooms, together with a 70-step foremost staircase, a corridor of mirrors, a throne corridor with a ceiling painted by Tiepolo, a royal chapel holding string devices made by Antonio Stradivari, and the royal armory housing weapons and armor courting again so far as the thirteenth century. Don’t miss the portray gallery, which holds masterpieces reminiscent of Luis de Morales’s Virgin with Little one, Juan de Flandes’s Isabella the Catholic, Caravaggio’s Salome with the Head of John the Baptist, and works by Velázquez, Goya, and Sorolla. There may be additionally a altering of the guard ceremony on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Museum del Prado

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Initially conceived as a home of science, the Prado Museum opened in 1819 throughout the reign of King Ferdinand VII to showcase the royal assortment of artwork. At this time the museum’s holdings comprise roughly 34,000 gadgets in whole (together with 8,000 work, 1,000 sculptures, 9,000 drawings, 3,600 ornamental works, and 6,000 etchings), courting again to the eleventh century. Highlights embody works from the Spanish Gothic interval with work by Bartolomé Bermejo, Pedro Berruguete, Juan de Juanes, and Luis de Morales, and galleries dedicated to El Greco, Goya, Ribera, Zurbarán, Murillo, Sorolla, and Velázquez. The Prado additionally options Italian masters from Fra Angelico and Mategna to Botticelli, Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese; representatives of Flemish artwork from Van der Weyden to Bosch to Rubens and the Bruegel household; and French, German, and Dutch painters together with Dürer, Le Lorrain, Rembrandt, and Watteau. When you’ve got time, swing by the extension by Rafael Moneo, which homes momentary exhibitions, an auditorium, and a restaurant.
CaixaForum Madrid

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This 21,500-square-foot cultural middle that includes artwork, music, poetry, and extra is located close to the three world-class museums of the Paseo del Arte (Artwork Stroll)—the Prado, the Thyssen-Bornemisza, and the Reina Sofía. It used to deal with the Mediodía electrical energy station. Renovated by Prizker Prize winners Herzog & de Meuron, this spectacular constructing with a Patrick Blanc–designed vertical backyard is now dwelling to a 322-seat auditorium, a number of convention rooms, exhibition halls, a bookstore, a café, and a restaurant.
Museo Sorolla

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Paseo del Basic Martinez Campos 37 was the house of Valencia-born painter Joaquín Sorolla from 1911 to his demise in 1923. The artist’s widow, Clotilde García del Castillo, bequeathed the house and all it contained to the Spanish authorities, underneath the situation that or not it’s maintained in its unique state and opened as such to the general public. The home-museum was formally inaugurated in 1932. Inside, you will discover the most important assortment of Sorolla’s works, which quantities to some 1,200 work and drawings, together with Sorolla’s belongings, together with private gadgets, sculptures, ceramics, and jewellery.
Grand Vía

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Greater than 100 years previous, a mile lengthy, and punctuated with a number of the hottest retail outlets within the metropolis, Gran Through is without doubt one of the busiest streets in Madrid, attracting some 10 million folks yearly. Typically known as “Spanish Broadway” due to its many theaters, it has lately been refurbished with added greenery and extra locations to sit down, making it extremely pedestrian pleasant. Gran Vía is split into three sections: from Calle Alcalà to Purple de San Luis, with probably the most attention-grabbing structure; from Purple de San Luis to Callao, lined with repurposed buildings (Gran Vía, 28; Gran Vía, 32); and from Callao to Plaza de España, marked by the Capitole constructing with its Schweppes neon signal.
Museo de Historia de Madrid

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Housed within the former San Fernando Hospice, a Baroque constructing designed by Pedro de Ribera, the Museo de Historia gives a deep perception into the humanities, industries, existence, and customs of Madrileños going again to 1561, the 12 months Madrid turned the capital of Spain. After a radical revamp, the museum reopened its doorways in 2014. The gathering, which is split into three sections, consists of 60,000 objects together with work, prints, maps, drawings, images, sculptures, silver work, followers, and furnishings. Among the many highlights: an 1830 scale mannequin of the town by León Gil de Palacio, the work Allegory of the Metropolis of Madrid by Francisco de Goya and Virgin with Saint Ferdinand by Luca Giordano, a gaggle of 18th-century sculptures, and items from the studio of Spanish engraver José Gutiérrez Solana.
Museo Cerralbo

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This classical-style palace, with neo-baroque and rococo parts, was constructed each as a museum and because the dwelling of the seventeenth Marquess of Cerralbo. From the beginning, the Marquess was intent on donating his property to the Spanish folks in order that his treasures might keep “collectively and be studied by science and artwork lovers alike.” At this time the establishment holds some 50,000 objects (work, sculptures, ceramics, glassware, tapestry, furnishings, cash, medals, drawings, stamps, clocks, weapons, archaeological items, and extra). However be warned: Not one of the gadgets have been formally captioned, not less than for now.
Estacion de Atocha

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Inaugurated in 1851, Atocha is Madrid’s first railway station. It was expanded in 1865 and rebuilt in 1892, after a devastating fireplace, by Alberto de Palacio Elissagne, who collaborated with Gustave Eiffel and Henry Saint James. Between 1984 and 1992, Spanish architect Rafael Moneo helped increase the Atocha advanced, which now contains two stations. The brand new half is dwelling to the terminal for the AVE high-speed community, long-distance trains, and native Cercanías companies. Renfe, the state-owned firm working freight and passenger trains, has arrange its workplaces within the previous part, which additionally homes a tropical backyard planted with greater than 100 species, together with 70 palm bushes. Catch the Cervantes Prepare if you happen to can; in solely 40 minutes, it’s going to take you to Alcalá, the hometown of Don Quixote’s creator.
Naval Museum of Madrid

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This museum’s mission is to preserve, purchase, analysis, talk, and exhibit all types of items and collections associated to Spain’s naval historical past from the Center Ages to the current day. Run by the Spanish Ministry of Protection, it was inaugurated in 1843. The museum moved into its present location, on Paseo del Arte, in 1932. Fifty years later an extension was added, doubling its exhibition area. The final modernization happened in 2020. The 12,000-piece assortment, offered chronologically, contains mannequin vessels; astronomical, scientific, and navigation devices; ornamental arts; weapons; flags; uniforms; medals; seafarers’ provides; and private belongings of illustrious sailors, to not point out a map made by Juan de la Cosa, the earliest recognized illustration of the New World.
Nationwide Library of Spain

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It’s the largest library in Spain, in addition to one of many largest libraries on the earth. Based in 1711 by King Philip V underneath the title of Actual Biblioteca (Royal Library), it has copies of each e-book ever printed in Spain, in addition to an distinctive assortment of incunables, manuscripts, prints, drawings, images, maps, sound recordings, scores, and extra. The library helped protect greater than 500,000 books that have been confiscated from church buildings, palaces, and personal residences throughout the Spanish Civil Battle. The Library’s exhibition area, open to the general public, is known as “El Infierno y la Maravillas” (“Hell and Wonders”), referring to the key place the place libraries used to hide their forbidden books and treasures.
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

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The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, aka the Thyssen, was named after its founder, Baron Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza. It’s positioned on the Artwork Stroll together with the Prado and the Reina Sofía. With some 1,600 work, it’s the second-largest non-public artwork assortment on the earth, trailing solely the British royal assortment. Whereas the baron targeted on Previous Masters, together with Ghirlandaio’s Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni and Carpaccio’s Knight, his son Baron Hans Thyssen-Bornemisza added Nineteenth- and Twentieth-century works. In a way, the establishment fills in a number of the gaps within the collections of the Reina Sofía, which focuses on Impressionism and Expressionism, and the Prado, which, highlights Italian primitives and the English, Dutch, and German faculties.
Nationwide Archaeological Museum

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The Nationwide Archaeological Museum (MAN) is dwelling to one of the crucial vital antiquity collections on the earth. Reopened in 2014 after a six-year renovation, its galleries maintain works from prehistory to the Nineteenth century, together with Greek ceramics, Visigoth votive crowns, and Spanish Islamic ivories, a set that has been rising since 1897. Highlights embody the Woman of Elche, a limestone bust found in Spain; the Treasure of Guarrazar, an unbelievable instance of Visigoth goldsmithing; and an ivory pot from Zamora. In October 1964, a reproduction of a UNESCO World Heritage web site—the Altamira Cave positioned close to the historic city of Santillana Del Mar in Cantabria—was inaugurated within the gardens of MAN. The recreation of the cave, in an underground chamber designed by architects Fernando Aguirre and Rafael Mérida, is as spectacular as it’s exact.