1.
Districts of Madrid
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Madrid, the capital city of Spain, is divided into 21 districts, which are further subdivided into 128 wards. Each district is governed by a body named Junta Municipal de Distrito, residents of Madrid are typically called Madrileños. The modern metropolis is home to three million people. Some of the most well-known neighbourhoods in Madrid are listed below and this district contains the large Plaza de Colón. This plaza commemorates Christopher Columbus, who was responsible for ushering in the Spanish imperial golden age of the 16th and 17th centuries, Atocha covers a large area and is bordered by the Huertas and Lavapiés neighbourhoods. It contains several cultural institutions, including the Reina Sofía Museum. Also located here is the bus terminal and the Atocha Railway Station. This was the site of the train bombings carried out on March 11,2004. Atocha was also the site of the 1977 Massacre of Atocha, located in the Cuatro Caminos ward, AZCA is the financial center of Madrid. The area is populated by skyscrapers, among them Torre Picasso at 157 metres, Edificio BBVA at 107 metres, the skyscraper Torre Windsor once stood here as well, until it burned completely on the night of 12 February 2005. A large El Corte Inglés department store consisting of three interconnected buildings is located here. The area is linked to Barajas Airport by metro line 8 at the Nuevos Ministerios station. Its the Parkour centre of Madrid, the CTBA is composed of the four tallest skyscrapers in Madrid. The tallest is Torre Bankia, once known as the Torre Respol and it was designed by Sir Norman Foster, and is the third tallest skyscraper in Europe. Torre de Cristal, or Crystal Tower, is only 0.6 metres lower than Torre Bankia, at 249.4 metres, Torre PwC is the third tallest in Madrid, at 235 metres, and was designed by Enrique Alvarez & Carlos Rubio. The fourth skyscraper is Torre Espacio, or Space Tower and it is 223 metres tall and it was designed by I. M. Pei. The four skyscrapers were finished in 2008, chueca is well known as a centre of gay culture in Madrid. This small area is notable for housing the Congress of Deputies, known as the Congreso de los diputados, other notable sites include the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, the Banco de España, the Café del Círculo de Bellas Artes, the Zarzuela Theater and the Plaza de Cibeles
2.
Museo del Prado
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The Prado Museum is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. Founded as a museum of paintings and sculpture in 1819, it contains important collections of other types of works. El Prado is one of the most visited sites in the world, and it is considered one of the greatest art museums in the world. The collection currently comprises around 8,200 drawings,7,600 paintings,4,800 prints, and 1,000 sculptures, in addition to a large number of other works of art and historic documents. As of 2012, the museum displayed about 1,300 works in the buildings, while around 3,100 works were on temporary loan to various museums. The museum received 2.8 million visitors in 2012 and it is one of the largest museums in Spain. The best-known work on display at the museum is Las Meninas by Velázquez, Velázquez and his keen eye and sensibility were also responsible for bringing much of the museums fine collection of Italian masters to Spain, now the largest outside of Italy. The museum is planning a 16% extension in the nearby Salón de Reinos and their efforts and determination led to the Royal Collection being enriched by some of the masterpieces now to be seen in the Prado. In addition to works from the Spanish royal collection, other holdings increased and enriched the Museum with further masterpieces, such as the two Majas by Goya. Among the now closed museums whose collections have been added to that of the Prado were the Museo del la Trinidad in 1872, in addition, numerous legacies, donations and purchases have been of crucial importance for the growth of the collection. Upon the deposition of Isabella II in 1868, the museum was nationalized and acquired the new name of Museo del Prado, the building housed the royal collection of arts, and it rapidly proved too small. The first enlargement to the museum took place in 1918, particularly important donations include Barón Emile dErlangers gift of Goyas Black Paintings in 1881. Between 1873 and 1900, the Prado helped decorate city halls, new universities, during the Second Spanish Republic from 1931 to 1936, the focus was on building up provincial museums. The art had to be returned across French territory in night trains to the museum upon the commencement of World War II, during the early years of the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, many paintings were sent to embassies. The main building was enlarged with short pavilions in the rear between 1900 and 1960, in 1993, an extension proposed by the Prados director at the time, Felipe Garin, was quickly abandoned after a wave of criticism. In the late 1990s, a $14 million roof work forced the Velázquez masterpiece Las Meninas to change galleries twice, in 1998, the Prado annex in the nearby Casón del Buen Retiro closed for a $10 million two-year overhaul that included three new underground levels. In 2007, the finally executed Rafael Moneos project to expand its exposition room to 16,000 square meters. A glass-roofed and wedge-shaped foyer now contains the shops and cafeteria
3.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
4.
Autonomous communities of Spain
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Spain is not a federation, but a highly decentralized unitary state. Some scholars have referred to the system as a federal system in all. There are 17 autonomous communities and two cities that are collectively known as autonomies. The two autonomous cities have the right to become autonomous communities, but neither has yet used this right and this unique framework of territorial administration is known as the State of Autonomies. The autonomous communities are governed according to the constitution and their own organic laws known as Statutes of Autonomy, since devolution was intended to be asymmetrical in nature, the scope of competences vary for each community, but all have the same parliamentary structure. Spain is a country made up of different regions with varying economic and social structures, as well as different languages. While the entire Spanish territory was united under one crown by the 16th century, the constituent territories—be it crowns, kingdoms, principalities or dominions—retained much of their former institutional existence, including limited legislative, judicial or fiscal autonomy. These territories also exhibited a variety of customs, laws. From the 18th century onwards, the Bourbon kings and the government tried to establish a more centralized regime, leading figures of the Spanish Enlightenment advocated for the building of a Spanish nation beyond the internal territorial boundaries. This culminated in 1833, when Spain was divided into 49 provinces and these were the Basque Country and Catalonia. This gave rise to peripheral nationalisms along with Spanish nationalism, therefore, economic and social changes that had produced a national cultural unification in France had the opposite effect in Spain. In a response to Catalan demands, limited autonomy was granted to Catalonia in 1913 and it was granted again in 1932 during the Second Spanish Republic, when the Generalitat, Catalonias mediaeval institution of government, was restored. During General Francos dictatorial regime, centralism was most forcefully enforced as a way of preserving the unity of the Spanish nation, peripheral nationalism, along with communism and atheism were regarded by his regime as the main threats. When Franco died in 1975, Spain entered into a phase of transition towards democracy, the then Prime Minister of Spain, Adolfo Suárez, met with Josep Tarradellas, president of the Generalitat of Catalonia in exile. An agreement was made so that the Generalitat would be restored and limited competencies would be transferred while the constitution was still being written. In the end, the constitution, published and ratified in 1979, found a balance in recognizing the existence of nationalities and regions in Spain, within the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation. The starting point in the organization of Spain was the second article of the constitution. In order to exercise this right, the established a open process whereby the nationalities
5.
Community of Madrid
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The Community of Madrid is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, and its capital is the city of Madrid, which is also the capital of the country. The Community of Madrid is bounded to the south and east by Castile–La Mancha and to the north and west by Castile and it was formally created in 1983, based on the limits of the province of Madrid, until then conventionally included in the historical region of New Castile. The Community of Madrid is the third most populous in Spain with 6,369,167 inhabitants mostly concentrated in the area of Madrid. It is also the most densely populated autonomous community, Madrids economy is of roughly equal size to Catalonias, which remains Spains largest. Madrid thus has the highest GDP per capita in the country, some notable discoveries of the region the bell-shaped vase of Ciempozuelos. During the Roman Empire, the region was part of the Citerior Tarraconese province, except for the south-west portion of it and it was crossed by two important Roman roads, the via xxiv-xxix (joining Astorga to laminium and via xxv, and contained some important conurbations. The city of Complutum became an important metropolis, whereas Titulcia, during the period of the Visigothic Kingdom, the region lost its importance. The population was scattered amongst several small towns, Alcalá de Henares was designated the bishopric seat in the 5th century by orders of Asturio, archbishop of Toledo, but this event was not enough to bring back the lost splendor of the city. The centre of the peninsula was one of the regions of the Al-Andalus until the 11th century when it became important. The Muslim governors created a system of fortresses and towers all across the region with which they tried to stop the advance of the Christian kingdoms of the north. The fortress of Mayrit was built somewhere between 860 and 880 AD, as a walled precinct where a military and religious community lived, and it soon became the most strategic fortress in defense of the city of Toledo above the fortresses of Talamanca de Jarama and Qal-at-Abd-Al-Salam. In 1083, king Alfonso VI of Castile conquered the city of Madrid, Alcalá de Henares fell in 1118 in a new period of Castilian annexation. The feudal and ecclesiastical lords came into constant conflict with the different councils that had granted the authority to repopulate. Specifically, Alcalá de Henares was under the hands of the archbishopric of Toledo, Castilian monarchs showed a predilection for the center of the peninsula, with abundant forests and game. El Pardo was a region visited frequently by kings since the time of Henry III, the Catholic Monarchs started the construction of the Royal Palace of Aranjuez. In the 16th century, San Lorenzo de El Escorial was built, besides its growing political importance, it also became a cultural center with the foundation of the University of Alcalá de Henares in 1508. In 1561, King Philip II made Madrid the capital of the empire, the surrounding territories became economically subordinated to the town itself, even beyond the present day limits of the Community of Madrid
6.
Madrid
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Madrid is the capital city of the Kingdom of Spain and the largest municipality in both the Community of Madrid and Spain as a whole. The city has a population of almost 3.2 million with an area population of approximately 6.5 million. It is the third-largest city in the European Union after London and Berlin, the municipality itself covers an area of 604.3 km2. Madrid lies on the River Manzanares in the centre of both the country and the Community of Madrid, this community is bordered by the communities of Castile and León. As the capital city of Spain, seat of government, and residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is also the political, economic, the current mayor is Manuela Carmena from Ahora Madrid. Madrid is home to two football clubs, Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid. Madrid is the 17th most liveable city in the according to Monocle magazine. Madrid organises fairs such as FITUR, ARCO, SIMO TCI, while Madrid possesses modern infrastructure, it has preserved the look and feel of many of its historic neighbourhoods and streets. Cibeles Palace and Fountain have become one of the monument symbols of the city, the first documented reference of the city originates in Andalusan times as the Arabic مجريط Majrīṭ, which was retained in Medieval Spanish as Magerit. A wider number of theories have been formulated on possible earlier origins, according to legend, Madrid was founded by Ocno Bianor and was named Metragirta or Mantua Carpetana. The most ancient recorded name of the city Magerit comes from the name of a built on the Manzanares River in the 9th century AD. Nevertheless, it is speculated that the origin of the current name of the city comes from the 2nd century BC. The Roman Empire established a settlement on the banks of the Manzanares river, the name of this first village was Matrice. In the 8th century, the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula saw the changed to Mayrit, from the Arabic term ميرا Mayra. The modern Madrid evolved from the Mozarabic Matrit, which is still in the Madrilenian gentilic, after the disintegration of the Caliphate of Córdoba, Madrid was integrated in the Taifa of Toledo. With the surrender of Toledo to Alfonso VI of León and Castile, the city was conquered by Christians in 1085, Christians replaced Muslims in the occupation of the centre of the city, while Muslims and Jews settled in the suburbs. The city was thriving and was given the title of Villa, since 1188, Madrid won the right to be a city with representation in the courts of Castile. In 1202, King Alfonso VIII of Castile gave Madrid its first charter to regulate the municipal council, which was expanded in 1222 by Ferdinand III of Castile
7.
Buen Retiro Park
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The Buen Retiro Park is one of the largest parks of the city of Madrid, Spain. The park belonged to the Spanish Monarchy until the late 19th century, the Buen Retiro Park is a large and popular 1.4 km2 park at the edge of the city centre, very close to the Puerta de Alcalá and not far from the Prado Museum. A magnificent park, filled with sculpture and monuments, galleries. The park is surrounded by the present-day city. The royal family had a built as part of the church. 1556–1enue |avenues]] of trees were laid out, Buen Retiro was described as The world art wonder of the time, probably the last great creation of the Renaissance in Spain. Buen Retiro became the center of Habsburg court life at a time when Spain was the foremost power in the world, during the reigns of Philip IV and Charles II several magnificent plays were performed in the park for the royal family and the court. Philip V ordered the creation of a parterre, the only French-style garden in the complex, during the reign of Ferdinand VI, Buen Retiro was the setting for magnificent Italian operas. Charles III saw to the beautification of its perimeter, replacing the old walls with elegant wrought-iron railings, juan de Villanuevas Astronomical Observatory was built during the reign of Charles IV. The Buen Retiro Palace was used until the era of Charles III, most of the palace was destroyed during the Peninsular War with the First French Empire. The reign of Queen Isabella II saw profound changes in the Retiro, the gardens eventually passed to public ownership in 1868, at the time of the overthrow of Queen Isabella. In 1883 it hosted the Exposición Nacional de Minería, el Retiro gradually became the green heart of the city. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Monument to Alfonso XII of Spain was erected next to the pond, countless statues, fountains and commemorative monuments have filled the park and converted it into an open-air sculpture museum. The nineteen-thirties and forties witnessed the creation of new gardens attributed to Chief Gardener Cecilio Rodriguez who designed, close to the northern entrance of the park is the Estanque del Retiro, a large artificial pond. Next to it is the monument to King Alfonso XII, featuring a semicircular colonnade and it is claimed that this statue is the only known public monument of Satan. The few remaining buildings of the Buen Retiro Palace, including Casón del Buen Retiro, the Casón has a collection of 19th- and 20th-century paintings, including art by the Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla. The Ejército, one of Spains foremost Army museums, has moved to Toledo, since assuming its role as a public park the late 19th century, the Parque del Retiro has been used as a venue for various international exhibitions. Built along with its artificial pond in 1887 for the Philippine Islands Exhibitions, the landscape-style gardens located in the former Campo Grande are also a reminder of the international exhibitions that have taken place here in the past
8.
Paseo del Prado
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The Paseo del Prado is one of the main boulevards in Madrid, Spain. The Paseo del Prado is the oldest historical urban in Madrid and was declared Bien de Interés Cultural and it runs north-south between the Plaza de Cibeles and the Plaza del Emperador Carlos V, with the Plaza de Cánovas del Castillo lying approximately in the middle. The Paseo del Prado forms the end of the citys central axis. The Paseo del Prado boulevard includes several monuments and enclosures that are of historical and artistic interest, numerous ornamental and landscaping grounds were constructed for this project. The highlights of this include the Villanueva Building, headquarters of the Prado Museum, the Royal Botanical Gardens. Media related to Paseo del Prado at Wikimedia Commons The Paseo del Prado Architectural review by a+t architecture publishers
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Madrid Atocha railway station
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Madrid Atocha is the largest railway station in Madrid. It is the station serving commuter trains, intercity and regional trains from the south. These train services are run by the Spanish national rail company, from 2014, this station is connected everyday to Marseille in France. The station is in the Atocha neighborhood of the district of Arganzuela, at this site, Madrids first railway station was inaugurated on 9 February 1851 under the name Estación de Mediodía. After the building was destroyed by fire, it was rebuilt. The architect for the replacement, in a wrought iron style was Alberto de Palacio Elissagne. Engineer Henry Saint James also took part in the project, the name Atocha has become attached to the station because of the nearby basilica dedicated to Our Lady of Atocha. The train platforms were covered by a roof in the form of inverted hull with a height of approximately 27 meters. The steel and glass roof spreads between two flanking buildings. This complex of railway tracks expanded through the years, in 1985, a project of complete remodeling began, based on designs by Rafael Moneo. In 1992, the building was taken out of service as a terminal, and converted into a concourse with shops, cafés. Like the Orsay Museum in Paris, the concourse has been given a new function, a modern terminal was also designed by Moneo, and built in adjacent land to serve both the new AVE trains and local commuter lines. The main lines end in the new terminal, commuter train platforms are located underground, the station is served by two Madrid Metro stations, Atocha and Atocha Renfe. The latter was added when the new building was constructed and is directly linked to the railway station. On 11 March 2004, packed arriving commuter trains were bombed in a series of coordinated bombings, killing 191 people, the official investigation by the Spanish Judiciary determined the attacks were directed by a terrorist cell. On 10 June 2004, a somber and minimalist Atocha station memorial was dedicated for the victims of the Attack, the monument includes a virtual shrine. Visitors to the stations can leave a hand silhouette and a message through special-purpose consoles. A second monument to this event, known as 11-M in Spain, is the Bosque del Recuerdo in the Parque del Buen Retiro near Atocha
10.
Las Acacias (Madrid)
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Las Acacias is a ward of Madrid belonging to the district of Arganzuela. Its code number is 22 and, as of 2006, its population was of 37,727, Acacias is located in city center and is crossed, at its south-eastern borders, by the river Manzanares. Acacias borders with the districts of Centro, Carabanchel and with the Arganzuelan wards of Imperial, Palos de Moguer, Las Delicias, Las Acacias is served by the Metro Line 5 stations of Puerta de Toledo, Acacias and Pirámides. It is also served by the Cercanías stations of Pirámides and Embajadores, orthophoto of the district of Arganzuela
11.
Universidad (Madrid)
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Universidad is an area of Madrid with a creative and countercultural scene. Malasaña is to the west of Chueca and to the east of Argüelles and it is surrounded by several metro stations and is a central neighbourhood of Madrid. Residents include Esperanza Aguirre, the former President of the Community of Madrid, amongst other politicians and it was the center of the movida movement in late 1970s and 1980s Madrid. Malasaña is a vibrant neighborhood and a center for the phenomenon, full of lively bars. Its creative and counter-cultural roots, which stretch back several decades, have led to the areas distinctly unique musical and its streets are currently being renovated, making it a much more attractive quarter. Its one of the areas for partying the night away. The areas center is the Plaza del Dos de Mayo and this plaza hosts a large festival on the same day. Botellons are common in this neighbourhood, large ones were held in Plaza de dos de Mayo before the police stopped the nightly practice after a festival turned awry in 2006. Botellon´s involving up to 200 people happen and the plaza where it changes depending on how the police crack down on them. The night life is diverse in Malasaña, though the most common themes are non-pretentious style places, mixed places and colourful or bohemian cafes. There are one or two bars for hard rock and metal, house, nudists, BDSM, gothic, Latin, classic, 1980s, hip-hop, commercially, Malasaña has many fashion boutiques as well as shops for design and niche market products. They are often cutting-edge shops or feature progressive designers and products and they are often economical and rarely mainstream. There are many second-hand vintage shops, used book stores and unique gift shops, rents are high for small space and some buildings are very exclusive. Malasaña is mentioned in a song by Manu Chao, surf instrumental Farawel Malasaña by Bambi Molesters from Croatia, parts of the neighbourhood closer to Gran Via are frequented by the solo aspect of night life including sex clubs, sex shops and street activity. Drugs are rarely sold openly on the due to police crackdowns in the early 2000s. It is common for women and men to illegally sell beer openly all over the neighbourhood. Although popularly known as barrio Malasaña, it is known by residents as Maravillas, Malasaña is named after a 15-year-old girl Manuela Malasaña who once lived on San Andrés street. She was executed by the French following the uprising in 1808, today, there is a street named in her honour very close to the roundabout Glorieta de Bilbao
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Spain
Madrid
Madrid
Retiro - Madrid travel guide from Wikivoyage
Media related to Retiro District, Madrid at Wikimedia Commons
