The best monuments of Madrid to visit in a cultural getaway

Madrid offers you many places and places to see and visit. There are many monuments rich architecturally and artistically and with great historical value, which makes them known even outside of Spain. Whether it’s your first time in the capital or not, you may not have had time to see the most important thing. Do not worry there will be more opportunities, but also to get to the point we will make a list of what we consider the most important monuments to visit in a cultural getaway.

Top 10 cultural monuments in Madrid

1. PUERTA DEL SOL

Puerta del Sol is one of the most famous squares in Madrid and you can find some of the most significant points and buildings in the capital.

Its construction was carried out in several stages; It began with the construction of the Casa de Correosa mid-eighteenth century and a century later, between 1857 and 1862, took its final form thanks to the architects Lucio del Valle, Juan Rivera and José Morer. Already in the twentieth century the gardens, the fountain and the pedestrian zone were added.

In the Puerta del Sol you will find three well-known places nationwide:

• Statue of the Bear and the Madroño

Below Tío Pepe’s ad, at the entrance to Calle Alcalá, you will find the statue of the symbol of Madrid: El Oso y el Madroño. It was built in 1967 and is one of the most popular meeting points.

• The Clock of Correos

Known throughout Spain for being the place where the year-end bells are broadcast since 1962. In the Puerta del Sol thousands of people congregate every year to eat the grapes and celebrate the new year.

• Kilometer Zero

Point where the Spanish radial roads begin. It is signposted and tourists do not leave Madrid without their photo on it.

Puerta del Sol has also experienced some important events, including the proclamation of the Second Republic in 1931.

Puerta de Sol is one of those places where you must stop in your visit to Madrid.

2. PLAZA MAYOR

It is very close to the Puerta de Sol. In one morning you can visit the two and you will have plenty of time.
It is one of the oldest squares in Spain, built by Juan de Herrera and Juan Gómez de Mora in the 16th and 17th centuries. If you go up the Calle Mayor, a few steps from the Palacio Real, it is an obligatory stop to stop at the Plaza Mayor. Throughout history has had many uses, including the place of executions.

It has quadrangular shape and its most characteristic parts are its arcades (currently plagued by bars, shops and restaurants) and the House of the Bakery. In the center stands an equestrian statue of Felipe III. The square measures 129 meters long by 94 meters wide and is surrounded by arcades and buildings of three floors.

In the fifteenth century the Plaza Mayor received the name of Plaza del Arrabal, later the Plaza Mayor has adopted other names such as: Plaza de la Constitución, Plaza Real and Plaza de la República. The current name is preserved since the end of the Civil War.

If you visit the main square you will find three places of special interest:

• Felipe III’s Statue

Creada en 1616 por Juan de Bolonia y Pietro Tacca, fue un regalo del Duque de Florencia al rey español. Hasta mediados del siglo XIX estuvo en la Casa de Campo.

• Casa de la Panadería

It is the most important building and was the first to begin construction in 1590. Initially it was the most important tahona in Madrid. The facade is decorated by Carlos Franco.

• Cuchilleros’ Arc

This arch is the best known of the nine access gates that the Plaza Mayor has. The name comes from the street with which it communicates, Cuchilleros street.

Another of the strong points of the Spanish capital. Also if you go to lunch time I could eat a sandwich of squid, while enjoying looking at the square.

3. GRAN Via street

It is the most famous street in Madrid and it has the most important cinemas and theaters in the city. A street that never sleeps. The Gran Vía is one of the main streets of Madrid (Spain). It begins in the street of Alcalá and ends in the Plaza de España.

It is famous for its cinemas, although in recent years some of them have closed and others have been reconverted with great success to musical theater, so the stretch between Plaza de Callao and Spain is known as the Madrid Broadway . The stretch between the San Luis network and the Plaza de Callao currently houses numerous international fashion chain stores.

Like the Fifth Avenue of New York, the Gran Vía must be covered yes or yes. For the day it is a spectacle, but at night illuminated it is if it fits even more. If you have time and can recórresela whole entire walking you will not regret.

4. PUERTA DE ALCALÁ

It is one of the most representative monuments of Madrid. It is located at the beginning of Calle Alcalá, in Plaza de la Independencia, in front of the Hospes Madrid Puerta de Alcalá Hotel.

The Puerta de Alcalá was inaugurated in 1778 by Francisco Sabatini, an Italian architect who worked most of his life in Spain. Previously there was another brick Puerta de Alcalá, but Carlos III ordered its demolition and reconstruction.

The name of the Puerta de Alcalá, like that of the street with the same name, comes from being located on the road that existed to go to Alcalá de Henares.

The designation of door is not coincidence either, since, in its origins, it was one of the five doors that gave access to the Villa de Madrid. In 1889 it became a plaza.

Víctor Manuel and Ana Belén dedicated a song in 1986.

Taking advantage of the proximity to the Retiro Park, I was able to take advantage of it and visit it while breathing a bit of fresh air in the center of Madrid.

Another of the sites that can not miss in your agenda during your stay in the capital.

5. CIBELES square

The Cibeles Square and its fountain is one of the most representative monuments of Madrid. Known mainly for the celebrations of the titles of Real Madrid and the Spanish team.

Plaza de Cibeles is located at the intersection of Calle de Alcalá (which crosses it from west to east) with Paseo de Recoletos (to the north) and Paseo del Prado (to the south). This place, one of the most symbolic of the capital, divides the boundaries of the districts Centro, Retiro and Salamanca.

In the center of the enclosure, the famous fountain of Cibeles, sculpted in the year 1782, is located, from a design by Ventura Rodríguez. Each of the four corners of the square is dominated by emblematic buildings, built between the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Taking advantage of your visit to the Plaza de la Cibeles you can see these buildings that surround it.

• Comunications Palace

It is one of the most representative of historic Madrid. Inaugurated in 1919, the building functioned as the central post office until recently it was renovated to house the Town Hall. From the viewpoint and the restaurant at the top you get very good views of the center.

• Buenavista Palace

Built in 1777 as the residence of the Dukes of Alba, today the palace surrounded by a wooded area is the headquarters of the Army General Headquarters.

• Banco de España

Inaugurated in 1891, the headquarters of the Bank of Spain has an imposing exterior with little decoration and a beautiful interior decorated with an excellent collection of paintings that includes works by Goya, Mengs, Maella and Vicente López.

• Palacio de Linares

Built in 1900 under the orders of the Marquis of Linares, years later it was restored to become the House of America, an institution that aims to promote cultural relations between Spain and Latin American countries.

6. PALACIO REAL

It is one of the main axes of old Madrid. Built between 1738 and 1764, it stands on the grounds of the old Alcázar, devastated by a fire four years before the start of construction. It was conceived as a Royal residence, although currently the monarch does not live there. Although its construction was by order of Felipe V, his son Carlos III was the first to inhabit it.

It is located next to the Arab wall of the capital. The environment in which it is located is in itself a monument worth seeing, next to the Cathedral of Almudena, the Sabatini Gardens or the Plaza de Oriente. You can take advantage of the visit to the Royal Palace to enter the most authentic and historic Madrid (it is stuck), an inexhaustible source for visitors and onlookers.

The Royal Palace also receives the name of East Palace.

It is surrounded by the gardens of Campo del Moro and by the Sabatini gardens. The first, to the west, date from the Middle Ages; the second ones were created in the 20th century and are in the north. The Campo del Moro can be visited during the day.

These are three of the things you can see during your visit to the Royal Palace.

• Official Halls

Grandiose, well preserved and very stylish, each room has its own personality. The throne room left us impressed.

• Royal Armory

Armor, shields and weapons of all kinds that constitute one of the most important collections in the world.

• Royal Farmacy

Hundreds of boats of different shapes and sizes that will take us back in time. The best, the recreation of the laboratory.

7. DEBOD’s temple

The Temple of Debod is one of the most important treasures hidden in Madrid. It is a building of ancient Egypt and we have it in Madrid! It is located to the west of the Plaza de España, next to the Paseo del Pintor Rosales (Parque del Oeste), on a hill where the Cuartel de la Montaña (in which there was a bloody episode of the Spanish Civil War). It was placed so that it retained approximately the same orientation as in its place of origin, from east to west.

The Temple of Debod was a gift from Egypt to Spain in 1968 in compensation for the Spanish aid after the international appeal made by UNESCO to save the temples of Nubia, mainly that of Abu Simbel, in danger of disappearance due to the construction of the prey of Aswan. Egypt donated four of the temples saved to different collaborating nations, including Debod to Spain.

It has an antiquity of about 2200 years. Its oldest nucleus was perhaps erected under the pharaoh Ptolemy IV Filópator, and later decorated by the Nubian king Adikhalamani de Meroe around 200-180 BC. C. It has important additions of the Ptolemaic and Roman-Imperial epochs.

If you like Egyptian art and are passing through or living in Madrid, do not miss the opportunity to visit this temple. You will not regret!

8. ALMUDENA’s cathedral

It is the most important religious building in the city. Place where the marriage of the current kings of Spain was celebrated.

On June 15, 1993, it was consecrated by Pope John Paul II, becoming the first cathedral consecrated outside of Rome.

The construction of the cathedral began on April 4, 1883 when King Alfonso XII laid the first stone. The promoter of the project and its architect was Francisco de Cubas.

Its interior surprises to have completely different details to other cathedrals: the ceiling and the stained-glass windows set aside the classic style to give way to bright colors and straight lines.

In the Almudena Cathedral you can find a museum which gathers dozens of objects that tell the story of the diocese of Madrid. It has twelve rooms where you can see mosaics to episcopal shields and ornament. The museum is another attraction to visit the Cathedral of Almudena, also if you are religious you can not miss it.

9. NEPTUNO’s fountain

The Fountain of Neptune is a beautiful neoclassical monument sculpted in white marble located in the Plaza de Cánovas del Castillo, colloquially called Plaza de Neptuno. It is surrounded by magnificent buildings built between the 18th and 19th centuries.

On the great circular pylon of the fountain is an enormous sculpture of Neptune, god of the seas, who wields a trident while riding on a chariot pulled by two horses with fish tail. Although it is less known, it has great beauty.

Just like the Fuente de Cibeles is a place of celebration for the followers of Real Madrid, the Fountain of Neptune is for fans of Atlético de Madrid, being here where the “colchoneros” celebrate all their victories.

Due to its central location you can not miss the opportunity to visit this symbol of the capital and especially if you like football and is the Atletico de Madrid.

10. TOLEDO’s door

The door of Toledo was one of the doors of access to the city of Madrid. There were previously three other doors called Toledo in the vicinity, but the current dates from the first third of the nineteenth century and was designed by the Spanish architect Antonio Aguado. It is located in the middle of the Glorieta de Toledo roundabout. It was erected as a triumphal arch in honor of King Fernando VII as a commemoration of Spanish independence after the French occupation.

It was the last monumental gate erected in the old precinct of Madrid. It was built in the period from 1813 and 1827, and was restored by the Madrid City Council in 1995. It gave access from the center of the city via Toledo Street to the southern roads of Madrid (Camino Real de Andalucía ), after crossing the channel of the Manzanares River through the bridge of Toledo and the Carabancheles.

Currently the Puerta de Toledo is considered a monument of the city. The restorations carried out by the Madrid City Council in 1995 allow it to recover part of its original appearance. The location of the Mercado Puerta de Toledo and the proximity of the current Rastro de Madrid make it a distinctive sign of the city of Madrid.

If you do not know what to do on a Sunday morning you can take the opportunity to visit this monument and take a short walk along the trail and then take the Vermú.

These are the ones that we consider the most important monuments of Madrid for your cultural visit. Also, if you are thinking of coming to Madrid, you can stay at the Hospes Madrid Puerta de Alcalá Hotel, as you are in a privileged location and very close to many of these monuments.

What did you think of this article? We hope you liked it and, above all, helped you filter what the most important monuments of Madrid are for us. If you liked this article, share it on social networks. In this way your friends when they come to Madrid will go to shot done.

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