Madrid

Madrid is a municipality and a city in Spain, with the historical category of a town, it is the capital of the State and of the Community of Madrid. Its municipal area, the most populous in Spain, has registered 3,305,408 people (INE 2021), making it the second most populous city in the European Union, as well as its metropolitan area, with 6,779,888 inhabitants registered.

It has a nominal GDP of €133,129 million —12% of national GDP— and a nominal GDP per capita of €41,600 (2018), being the 1st Spanish metropolitan area in economic activity −19% of GDP. It is also the first in more hotel overnight stays.

As the capital of Spain, it houses the headquarters of the Spanish Government and its Ministries, the General Courts (Congress and Senate), the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court, as well as the official residence of the kings of Spain and the President of the goverment. On the economic level, according to the report carried out by PwC on the evolution of the population and the economy of the main world capitals in 2009, it is the fourth richest city in Europe in GDP per capita measured in terms of Purchasing Power Parity, after London, Paris and Moscow. In 2009, 50.1% of the income of the 5,000 main Spanish companies was generated by companies with headquarters in Madrid, which accounted for 31.8% of them. It is the headquarters of 4.º largest stock market in Europe, 2nd in the Ibero-American sphere (Latibex), and several large corporations. It is the 8th city in the world with the largest presence of multinationals.

On the international level, it houses the headquarters of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), which belongs to the UN, the headquarters of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (OICV), the headquarters of the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), the headquarters of the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI), the International Youth Organization for Ibero-America (OIJ), and the headquarters of the Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB). It also houses the main international institutions that regulate and disseminate the Spanish language: the Permanent Commission of the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language, and headquarters of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), the Cervantes Institute and the Urgent Spanish Foundation (Fundeu). Madrid organizes fairs such as FITUR, Madrid Fusión, ARCO, SIMO TCI, the Automobile Show and the Cibeles Madrid Fashion Week.

It is an influential cultural center and has museums of international reference, among which the Prado Museum, the Reina Sofía National Art Center Museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza and CaixaForum Madrid stand out, which occupy, respectively, 14. º, 10th, 67th and 79th place among the most visited museums in the world. In 2021, the Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro, landscape of arts and sciences was included in the World Heritage List. Humanity by Unesco.

The origins of the city are the subject of historical review after discoveries of Visigothic burials, which have come to confirm that the later Muslim fortified settlement of Maǧrīţ (from the IX) had settled on a Visigothic vicus of the VII, possibly called Matrice or matrix ('stream'). Archaeological excavations have also uncovered remains from Roman times, as well as remains They date back to the carpetanos or to the pre-Roman period. It would not be until the XI century when Madrid was incorporated into the Kingdom of León, after its conquest by Alfonso VI of León in 1083. It was designated as the seat of the Court by King Felipe II in 1561, becoming the first permanent capital of the Spanish monarchy and has maintained the country's capital status ever since, except for brief intervals of time.

Toponymy

The first documented name is the one it had in Andalusian times, مجريط Maǧrīţ (AFI [ maʤriːtˁ]), which gave in Old Castilian Magerit ([maʤeˈɾit]), about whose origin a multitude of hypotheses have been formulated throughout history.

The most widespread theory until recent times was that of the Arabist Jaime Oliver Asín, who stated in 1959 that Maŷriţ or Maǧrīţ (ŷ and ǧ are two ways of representing the same sound), derives from maǧra, meaning “bed” or riverbed, to which the Romance suffix -it, from the Latin -etum indicating abundance (Arabic-Romance hybrids were frequent in al-Andalus). At first, Oliver Asín affirmed, however, that the current name of Madrid does not come from Maǧrīţ but from the Mozarabic romance, Matrice, pronounced Matrich with the meaning of "matrix" or "source". Oliver documented that the two place names, Arabic and Romance, coexisted in time; and, according to his original hypothesis, they would be used by both Muslim and Christian populations, who respectively lived on the current Almudena and Vistillas hills, separated by a stream that ran along the current Segovia street, which is the source of both. Names. Oliver went further, stating that the popular name "los madriles" comes from these two towns, in the plural, which is given to the city. However, Oliver later retracted this theory of the double name and simply stated that the name Madrid comes from the Arabic Maǧrīţ.

The linguist Joan Coromines proposed an alternative theory in 1960, pointing out that Maǧrīţ is actually nothing more than the phonetic Arabization of Matrich, with metathesis of ǧ and ţ and does not have to be related to the Arabic word maǧra, a possibility that Oliver Asín already pointed out but that he ruled out for reasons that are not exclusively linguistic. This theory was later developed by the Arabist and linguist Federico Corriente Córdoba, and is the most widespread today.

As for the town's Latin name, Matritus, it is an artificial late-medieval creation, for use in documents.

Gentilic

The common adjective for the inhabitants of Madrid is "Madrileño". There is a cultist variant, "matritense", derived from the Latin place name and its adjective matritensis. However, historically, the inhabitants of Madrid have also been nicknamed "cats" because, according to the legend, the conquest of the city by the troops of Alfonso VI, at the end of the XI century, was carried out by assault of the wall over which the Castilian troops climbed. Other legends point out, on the other hand, that this nickname of "cats" was given to the citizens of Madrid in the Middle Ages for their great ability to climb walls and cliffs with bare hands.

Symbols

The symbols of the town of Madrid are the crimson flag typical of the Castilian town halls and the traditional shield with the bear and the strawberry tree, headdressed with an ancient royal crown, according to the current Protocol and Ceremonial regulations of the Madrid Town Hall.

Although there is always talk of the "bear and the strawberry tree", in the past it was a bear. Likewise, the strawberry tree was not identified as such, but was a tree with red fruits, until the fruits of the strawberry tree were used to cure a plague that devastated the city. Since then the tree has been identified as arbutus. In the XVI century, the improvement of the shield was proposed:

To the softness of this council, which bears a bear and a madman in a white field, Your Majesty will be served to grant you to carry a crown within the shield, or a blue orla with seven stars of eight rays, in sign of the clear and extended sky that covers this Villa

Request of the Madrid Council to Carlos I of Spain, granted by the monarch. 1548.

For a time the coat of arms of Madrid had a dragon, although some experts point out that it was a winged shingle or a golden griffon.

Among the antiquities that evidently declare the nobility and ancient foundation of this people, it has been one that in this month of June 1569 years, to widen the Closed Gate they brought it down, and it was at the top of the door, on the canvas of the wall labrated in a stone berth a scary and fiero dragon, which the Greeks brought for weapons and used them on their flag...

Juan López de Hoyos, Spanish writer and humanist. History and true relationship of the disease, very happy transit and sumptuous funeral exequias of the serene queen of Spain doña Isabel de Valois, our lady. 1569

From then on, many shields in Madrid had dragons. The official coat of arms of 1859 included a golden griffin that resembled a dragon.

In 2006, the municipal corporation adopted a logo based on the coat of arms of the city of Madrid, in a light blue line, which is used in internal documents and external communication.

History

Prehistory

Despite the fact that no human fossil remains have been found, a great variety of tools have been found, especially in the surroundings of Arganda del Rey and Manzanares, which allow us to prove the existence of human settlements on the terraces of the river in the place that the city occupies today. The current city is based on territory that at the time prior to Roman domination was occupied by the Carpetano group.

Roman and Visigothic times

The conquest and colonization by Rome of the Iberian Peninsula, initially carried out as a Roman military maneuver in its long series of wars with Carthage, lasted almost two centuries, from the Second Punic War to 27 BC. C. in which they complete the pacification of the north of the territory and divide it into three provinces. The region that Madrid currently occupies would be located in Tarraconense.

Although it is possible that during the Roman period the territory of Madrid did not constitute more than a rural region, benefited by the situation of crossroads and natural wealth, the discovery of the remains of a basilica from the Spanish-Visigothic period in the surroundings of the church of Santa María de la Almudena has been presented as evidence of the existence of an urban settlement in that period. Other archaeological signs of the presence of a stable population in Madrid are found in the remains of two Visigothic necropolises, one in the former colony of the Count of Vallellano —Paseo de Extremadura, next to the Casa de Campo— and another in Tetuán de las Victorias. Inside the medieval quarter, a rather deteriorated tombstone was found with the legend, never completed and interpreted in various ways, but which could indicate the presence of a stable population already in the 17th century VII:

min.n. bokatus. indignvs. prs. imo / et tertio. regno. domno. rvd. / me. regvm. was dccxxv

Muslim period

Vestigios of the Muslim wall by the Cuesta de la Vega

The first historical record of the existence of a stable settlement dates from the Muslim period. In the second half of the IX century, the emir of Córdoba Muhammad I (852-886) builds a fortress on a promontory next to the river, which is one of the many fortifications that he orders to be built in the border territory of the Middle March with the triple purpose of monitoring the passes of the Sierra de Guadarrama and to protect Toledo from the razzias of the Christian kingdoms of the north, to be a starting point for Muslim incursions into said kingdoms and to establish the authority of Córdoba in this region. The first written news about Madrid is found in the Cordovan chronicler Ibn Hayyan (987-1075), who, quoting another earlier chronicler, al-Razi (888-955), says:

Muhammad and at the time of his reign are owed beautiful works, many gestations, great triumphs and total care for the well-being of Muslims, worrying about their borders, keeping their gaps, consolidating their extreme places and attending to their needs. He was the one who ordered to build the castle of Esteras, to keep the harvests of Medinaceli, finding himself on his northwest side. And he was the one who, for the people of the border of Toledo, built the castle of Talamanca, and the castle of Madrid and the castle of Peñahora. He often collected news from the brands and dealt with what happened in them, sending people of his confidence to check that they were well.

Next to the fortress, to the south and to the east, mainly, the town develops. This town is called Maǧrīţ (AFI [maʤriːtˁ]) (in Spanish old Magerit [maʤeˈɾit]), which could be an Arabization of the Romance name Matrice, "matrix", alluding to a stream of that name that ran next to the primitive city, along the current Segovia street, or being a hybrid between the Arabic word Maǧra, meaning "bed" or "watercourse", and the Romance suffix -it (< Latin -etum), indicating abundance; the meaning would therefore be "place abundant in waters", in reference to the various surface and subterranean streams that could be found on the site of the city.

The most complete news about Muslim Madrid is given by the geographer Al-Himyari in the XV century, who citing sources The oldest says of this city that it was:

A noble city of al-Andalus built by the emir Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman. From Madrid to the bridge of Maqida [Valdemaqueda?], which was the limit of the land of Islam, there are 31 miles. In Madrid there is a clay with which a few pots are made that can be used to put them on fire for twenty years without breaking, and what is cooked in them is preserved without affecting either the cold or the heat of the environment. The castle of Madrid is one of the most powerful, built by the emir Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman. Ibn Hayyan mentions in his History the pit that was dug outside the walls of Madrid, saying that a grave was found in it with a skeleton that measured 51 arms, that is, 102 palmos (approx. 9 m), from the cushion of the head to the end of the feet. From this he raised a record, certifying it, the cadí of Madrid, who came to the place and observed it with several witnesses.

Remains of the Tower of the Bones, an ancient Islamic watchtower, in the Plaza de Oriente

Throughout time, the tradition has been maintained that the primitive hisn or Andalusian fortress occupied the site on which the Christian fortress was later built and later the current Royal Palace. Many researchers have worked with this hypothesis, developing proposals for the reconstruction of the layout of the walls of the old al-mudayna or citadel based on this idea. However, there is no archaeological or documentary evidence that the hisn was in that location, and today scholars tend to think that the citadel wall passed through the current plaza that separates the cathedral. of the Almudena del Palacio and therefore did not include the site of the latter. The walled Andalusian city, therefore, would have been built on the hill delimited to the south by the hollow of the San Pedro stream (current Segovia street), to the north by the Arenal stream (current Arenal street) and to the west through the ravine that ends in the Manzanares plain. Outside the walls, to the south and west, a larger population developed that was surrounded by a second wall in Christian times.

Of the various archaeological works carried out in the city from the mid-XIX century onwards, they have found remains such as: the Arab wall of the Cuesta de la Vega, the watchtower of the Plaza de Oriente and the vestiges of a water pipe in the Plaza de los Carros. Other remains of the wall, now missing, are known from the old plans of the city. The main mosque, whose existence gave the population the character of a medina or city, occupied the place where the church of Santa María was later built, demolished in the 18th century XIX to widen the main street. This was already the main street of the city in Andalusian times.

In the year 932, King Ramiro II in his process of territorial conquest in the south of the kingdom of León attacked the Umayyad fortress of Madrid, in his idea of conquering Toledo, led by the Segovians Díaz Sanz de Quesada and Fernán Garcia de la Torre. Already occupied by al-Nasir, some time before, the fortresses on the right bank of the Tagus, Ramiro could only settle momentarily and dismantle the fortifications of Madrid and pillage its closest lands, from where he brought numerous people. The walls of Madrid were reinforced after this attack.

During the Caliphate period, Madrid belonged to the chora of Guadalajara. After the disintegration of this caliphate, the city became part of the taifa kingdom of Toledo.

In Arab Madrid, Maslama al-Mayriti was born in the X century, known as «the Andalusian Euclid», a notable astronomer and founder of a mathematical school in Córdoba.

Christian conquest and establishment of the capital of the Hispanic Monarchy

Church of San Nicolás de los Servitas, the oldest in the historic centre of Madrid

With the fall of the Taifa kingdom of Toledo at the hands of Alfonso VI of León, the city was taken by Christian forces in 1085 without resistance, probably by capitulation. The city and its alfoz were integrated into the kingdom of León as royal territories. The Christians replaced the Muslims in the occupation of the central part of the city, leaving the peripheral neighborhoods or suburbs, which in the previous period were inhabited by the Aljama de la Villa. There was also a Jewish quarter, which was first located around the current Teatro Real, and later where the current Almudena Cathedral, although the late romantic tradition placed it in the surroundings of what would later be the Lavapiés neighborhood, which It is impossible because in the Middle Ages it was an inhospitable and uninhabited area, and furthermore there have never been Jewish quarters outside the city walls.

During the next century, Madrid continued to receive attacks from the new Muslim powers of the peninsula, the Almoravids, who burned the city in 1109, and the Almohads, who put it under siege in 1197. The Christian victory of Las Navas de Tolosa definitively removes the Muslim influence from the center of the peninsula.

Two outstanding religious events that mark the development of the personality of popular Christianity in Madrid come from this period: the “discovery” of the image of the Virgin of Almudena and the life of Isidro Labrador, who would later be canonized. The city is prospering and receives the title of town in 1123. Following the usual repopulation scheme in Castile, Madrid is constituted as a council, head of a community of town and land, the community of town and land of Madrid. The government of the city rests with all the people of Madrid with the rank of neighbors, meeting in an open council until in 1346, King Alfonso XI establishes the regiment, in which only representatives of the local oligarchy, the aldermen, govern the city.. In 1152, King Alfonso VII established the limits of the community of villa and land between the Guadarrama and Jarama rivers. In 1188, a representation from Madrid participated for the first time in the Cortes of Castile. In 1202, Alfonso VIII granted it its first municipal charter, which regulated the operation of the council, whose powers were extended in 1222 by Fernando III the Saint.

Old Alcazar of Madrid at the beginning of the centuryXVI

Despite Madrid's support for Pedro I, later the rulers of the house of Trastámara would frequently reside in the town due to the abundance and quality of its hunting grounds, which they were very fond of. Even before, Alfonso XI's Book of Montería noted: «Madrid, a good place for pigs and bears», and possibly from this characteristic derived the shield that the Madrid hosts took to the battle of the Navas de Tolosa. Subsequently, a long lawsuit between the City Council and the Church ended with an agreement to share pastures for the latter and tree feet for the former, with which a tree was incorporated into the shield together with the bear or bear and the seven stars of the homonymous constellation. The identification of the tree with the strawberry tree is more obscure, beyond the homophony with the name of the city.

The Cortes of Castile met for the first time in Madrid in 1309 under the reign of Ferdinand IV and later in 1329, 1339, 1391, 1393, 1419 and twice in 1435. After the unification of various kingdoms of the Iberian peninsula under a common Crown, the Cortes were convened in Madrid more frequently.

In the 15th century, when the number of cities with attorneys in the Cortes of Castile was fixed at eighteen, the villa maintained its vote in them.

Lithography of the centuryXIX representing the transfer to Madrid of the Court by Felipe II in 1561

In the War of the Communities, at the head of its alderman Juan de Zapata, Madrid joined the uprising against Carlos I (1520), taking the fortress on August 31, 1520 (see: Sitio del Alcázar de Madrid). However, after the defeat of the community members in Villalar, the town was besieged and occupied by royal troops in mid-May 1521. Despite all this, the successor of Carlos I, Felipe II decided to install the court in Madrid on February 13, 1561 (461 years ago).

The establishment of Madrid as the capital would be decisive for the evolution of the city and would make the vicissitudes of the country and the monarchy, to a greater or lesser extent, influence the destiny of the city. Except for a brief period between 1601 and 1606, in which the court moved to Valladolid, the capital will be inherent to Madrid. A famous expression indicated that identity: "only Madrid is cut", which, in a conceptual way, was also understood the other way around: "Madrid is only cut".

View of Madrid from the west, facing the door of the Vega, by Anton Van der Wyngaerde (called "Antonio de las Viñas" in Spain) in 1562, commissioned by Felipe II to collect views of his cities. The banks of the Manzanares, crossed by the forefathers of the bridge of Segovia (in the first place), and the bridge of Toledo (more south, right), will be built in monumental form years later. The most outstanding building, north (left), is the Alcazar, which is part of the walled circuit and which will suffer several fires until the 1734 fateful that will destroy it almost completely, being replaced by the present Royal Palace. Among the houses are the towers of the churches (from left to right: San Gil, San Juan, Santiago, San Salvador, San Miguel de los Octoes, San Nicolás, Santa María, San Justo, San Pedro, the chapel of the Bishop, San Andrés and, extramuros, San Francisco), which do not yet show the profile of domes and chapiteles that will characterize them in the following centuries. It appears, outside the walls and on the river, an artisanal installation dedicated to the treatment of skins: the Pozacho Tenries. The recent installation of the court led to increased fiscal pressure on individuals through the salve of the royalty, which produced all kinds of resistances, including the construction of the houses to malice

View of the Royal Alcazar and surroundings of the Segovia Bridge, anonymous, c. 1670

With the establishment of the court in Madrid, its population began to grow significantly. The royal bureaucracy, the members of the court and all the people necessary for their livelihood are joined by disinherited and hustlers from all over the Spanish Empire. In 1625, Felipe IV demolished the city wall, already surpassed, and built what will be the last near Madrid. This fence, built exclusively for fiscal reasons (tax toll) will limit the growth of the city until the XIX century. Government tasks are centralized in the Royal Alcázar, a set of buildings located on the land that will later be occupied by the Royal Palace and the Plaza de Oriente. At the same time, the area of another palace in the extreme east of the city, beyond the fence, is increased. It is the Buen Retiro palace, begun by the Catholic Monarchs (who also moved the monastery of San Jerónimo el Real, previously located near the Manzanares, area of the current Príncipe Pío station), of which its gardens, the Kingdom Hall and the Ballroom, the latter known as the Casón del Buen Retiro and currently used by the Prado Museum.

Enlightenment and Neoclassicism

Arrival of Carlos III, nicknamed "The Best Mayor of Madrid", to the city (1759), oil of Lorenzo Quirós

The change of dynasty would bring major changes to the city. The monarchs of the new dynasty found it as a dark population, with narrow streets, overcrowded, without sewage systems and pestilential. The Bourbons considered the need to compare Madrid to other European capitals. The fire in the Alcazar of Madrid in 1734 (an unfortunate event that caused the disappearance of a third of the royal collection of paintings) led to the construction of the Royal Palace. The works lasted until 1755 and it was not occupied until the reign of Carlos III. Bridges, hospitals, parks, fountains, buildings for scientific use, sewage ordinances and other actions were promoted by this last monarch, (who receives the popular title of "best mayor of Madrid"), with the collaboration of architects and urban planners from great professional and artistic category: Francesco Sabatini, Ventura Rodríguez and Juan de Villanueva, among others.

Alcalá Street in the mid-centuryXVIII by Antonio Joli

The Salón del Prado project, on the outskirts of the city, between the Buen Retiro complex and the fence, is probably the most important and the one that has left the most important legacy to the city: the Prado promenades and Recoletos, the Neptune, Cibeles and Apollo fountains, the Royal Botanical Garden, the Royal Astronomical Observatory or the Villanueva building, initially intended to house the Royal Cabinet of Natural History, although it would eventually be assigned to the then recently established Prado Museum. However, the relationship of the "king mayor" with his subjects-neighbors was not always good; Several measures of its modernization program were violently contested during the Esquilache riot of 1766, although more complex causes also converged in it.

The city appears seen from the southwest, and somewhat different from how Wyngaer might have drawn it two hundred years before. The Alcázar de los Austrias has been replaced by the Bourbon palace of Felipe V, the Segovia bridge (on the left) is the current one, and the profile of the enormous dome of San Francisco el Grande dominates the rest of the churches in the town. To the north (to the left) you can guess the "mountain" of Príncipe Pío, where the executions of May 3, 1808 took place, immortalized in Goya's painting.

The expansion and the industrial age

On 3 May in Madrid of Goya

The uprising of the people of Madrid against the French troops on May 2, 1808 marks the beginning of the War of Independence. King José Bonaparte carried out reforms in the capital, and his orders to demolish convents were frequent to make squares, for which he acquired the nickname Pepe Plazuelas. The course of the war forced him to flee Madrid on two occasions but the occupation of the city resulted in the destruction of valuable sites, such as the Buen Retiro Palace.

The confiscation meant a drastic change in the real estate property system, as well as concentrating a large art collection, the Museo de la Trinidad, which was dissolved in 1872 and its collections went on to swell those of the Museo del Prado (created during the reign of Ferdinand VII). It also supposes the creation in Madrid of the Central University, which will keep the name of Complutense since it comes from the physical and legal transfer of the faculty and students of the renowned University of Alcalá to the nearby capital.

St. Bernard Street in the mid-centuryXIX by David Roberts

During the 19th century, the city's population continues to grow. The perception of changes that will make it disappear the pre-industrial city stimulated the appearance of a "Madrid-like" literature, of a costumbrista nature, such as that of Ramón de Mesonero Romanos. The statistical and all kinds of information compiled by Pascual Madoz in his Geographical-statistical-historical dictionary for all of Spain was especially exhaustive for Madrid, whose article has a very significant heading: «Madrid: audience, province, quartermaster, vicarage, district and town".

In 1868 the fence of Felipe IV was finally demolished and the city was able to grow, initially in an orderly manner, thanks to the Castro plan and the realization of the extensions. It will be the opportunity for fabulous businesses, which enriched the José de Salamanca y Mayol, Marquis of Salamanca, who gave his name to the new neighborhood created to the east of what will become the central axis of the city (Paseo de la Castellana, an extension of Paseo del Prado). A modern water supply system is established (the Canal de Isabel II) and rail communication is established which will make Madrid the center of the radial communication network, which also leaves its mark on the urban fabric (station Delicias, Atocha station and Príncipe Pío station).

Restoration

In the first thirty years of the XX century, the population of Madrid reached more than one million inhabitants. New Suburbs such as Las Ventas, Tetuán or El Carmen welcomed the newly arrived proletariat, while the Madrid bourgeoisie settled in the suburbs. These transformations fostered the idea of the linear city, by Arturo Soria. At the same time, the Gran Vía was opened, in order to relieve congestion in the old town and the city's metro was inaugurated in 1919. During the reign of Alfonso XIII, real pecunio lands were ceded, northwest of the Royal Palace, to found the University City.

Second Republic and Civil War

Central Fruit and Vegetables Market, Legazpi Square (1935)

The municipal elections of April 12, 1931 gave a great victory to the republican-socialist conjunction in Madrid, which obtained 69.2% of the votes (90,630 votes for the conjunction and 31,616 for the monarchists, which resulted in 15 socialist councilors and 15 republicans compared to 20 monarchist councilors). Pedro Rico, from the Federal Democratic Republican Party, was elected mayor by the municipal corporation. The republican triumph in Madrid and most of the provincial capitals meant the decomposition of the monarchy and the advent of the Second Spanish Republic, barely two days after the elections. The Republican committee assumed power on the afternoon of the 14th, and proclaimed the Republic in the Real Casa de Correos in Puerta del Sol, headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior, before an ecstatic crowd. The Constitution of the Republic promulgated in 1931 it was the first to legislate on the capital status of the State, explicitly establishing it in Madrid. One of the first actions of the new government was to cede the Casa de Campo to the people of Madrid, until then royal property; opening to the public for the first time on May 1, 1931 at a massive country party.

The outbreak of the Spanish civil war took place in Melilla in the mid-afternoon of Friday, July 17, and was known in Madrid in the following hours. Still on Saturday the 18th and Sunday the 19th the city kept a certain normality. After the rebellion in Madrid was crushed, poorly planned, in the Montaña barracks and the Carabanchel barracks, in which the loyal elements of the Army and the Security Forces were aided by the popular militias (organized since the end of 1934 by the Communist Party of Spain under the name of Workers' and Peasants' Armed Militias), to which the Government authorized the delivery of arms. From that moment on, an indiscriminate repression began not only against those who had participated in the rebellion, but also against those who, because they did not share the political ideas of the Popular Front, were considered "disaffected to the Regime." Numerous interrogation, detention and torture centers (the “checas”) arose, from which many detainees only came out to be “walked around”, and their corpses later appeared in the outskirts of the city. Numerous "removals of prisoners" took place in which the so-called Surveillance Militias entered the prisons (San Antón, Ventas, etc.) with their lists of people to be eliminated, "removed" the prisoners that appeared on the lists and They were shot on the outskirts of the city. The massacres of Paracuellos de Jarama and Torrejón de Ardoz in November/December 1936 had a special magnitude, in which the most well-founded calculations show between 2,000 and 3,000 victims. The "removals of prisoners" in Republican territory ended with the arrival of Melchor Rodríguez García to the position of General Delegate for Prisons. Innumerable private homes were also seized, and the same fate suffered the headquarters of the right-wing political parties. Churches were attacked and burned, with irreparable artistic and cultural losses, and by official government decree of August 1936, all churches in Republican Spain and therefore also those in Madrid were definitively closed.

The resistance of the militias, militarized in the form of the People's Army of the Republic in 1937, led by the Madrid Defense Board, manages to stop the offensive during the battle of Madrid in the western neighborhoods of the city, especially in the surroundings of the Argüelles neighborhood and the University City, where the front was stabilized, and which was devastated in the conflict, losing, in addition to the University buildings themselves, valuable elements such as the Royal Site of Moncloa, which included the palace of the same name (the current one is a post-war reconstruction) and the Casa de Velázquez.

The city would not suffer another land assault during the war, but it was punished by artillery fire and aerial bombardments, the first in history on a capital, in the image of those that other Europeans will suffer during World War II. In four months, from November 7, 1936 to March 9, 1937, 1,490 deaths, 430 disappeared and 3,502 wounded. apart from causing numerous damage to emblematic buildings, such as those that affected, from November 14 to 17, 1936, the Prado Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Cajal Institute, the National Archaeological Museum and the Liria Palace. aviation was also used to frighten the enemy.

The resistance in Madrid was exalted by the propaganda in favor of the republican cause with the slogan "¡No pasarán!" and mocked at the end of the war, with the song by Celia Gámez "¡Ya hamos pasao!", but the situation forced the institutions and the Government, as well as the civilian population, to be evacuated to the interior and I raised. The end of the war was especially chaotic in Madrid, with the violent confrontation between armed units of the Communist Party and those loyal to the Madrid Defense Junta, led by General Miaja, Colonel Segismundo Casado and the Socialist Julián Besteiro. The armed clashes in the streets of the city caused numerous victims and gave rise to bloody reprisals and executions by both sides. After the war ended on April 1, 1939, Madrid began to suffer Franco's repression; In July of that year, Count Galeazzo Ciano, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Fascist Italy, writes in his diary that there are between 200 and 250 executions a day.

Franco's dictatorship

The Plaza de Moncloa with the Ministry of Air and the Arch of Victory, one of the symbols of the Franco in the capital

After the war, the city continues its unstoppable spatial growth, while at the same time it heals the wounds that the war had left in the city, especially on its west façade. Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards emigrate from the countryside to the city. Madrid (along with Barcelona and Bilbao) is one of the cities that benefits the most from these population movements. As of June 5, 1948, the process of annexation to Madrid of up to thirteen neighboring municipalities begins, which ends on July 31, 1954 (Aravaca, Barajas, Canillas, Canillejas, Chamartín de la Rosa, Fuencarral, Hortaleza, El Pardo, Vallecas, Vicálvaro, Villaverde, Carabanchel Alto and Carabanchel Bajo, with which its extension goes from 66 km² to the current 607 km² and gains some 300,000 new inhabitants. Urban disorder was the norm: shanty towns grew (masterfully described by Luis Martín-Santos in his novel Tiempo de silencio), while the historic center was subject to speculation, allowing the demolition of buildings of artistic or traditional value to be replaced by others of modern aesthetics, they build buildings of innovative architecture such as the suspended Torres de Colón.In some cases the architectural interventions have a character of marking the political presence, trying to promote the concept of «Madrid imp Francoist wasteland», as in the Moncloa area, where the Arco de la Victoria and the Air Ministry stand, in a neo-Herrerian style, or the Casa Sindical (currently the Ministry of Health), a building of the Vertical Unions.

The Great Way in 1965, then called José Antonio Avenue

The Metropolitan Area Planning Plan, approved in 1963, urged by the demographic explosion of the capital, began the tendency to divert the urban population concentration of Madrid towards metropolitan municipalities such as Alcorcón, Alcobendas, Coslada, Fuenlabrada, Getafe, Leganés, Móstoles, San Sebastián de los Reyes, San Fernando de Henares and Torrejón de Ardoz, which became commuter towns. In 1973, the first sections of the M-30, the city's first ring road, were inaugurated.^{[citation required]}

Transition and democracy

After the death of the dictator Franco, Madrid was one of the main scenarios during the Transition period. The first months of 1977 were notable for political and social unrest, with strikes, demonstrations and violent counter-demonstrations with fatalities. Other serious events were the two kidnappings by GRAPO and the 1977 Atocha massacre that resulted in the murder of labor lawyers by members of the ultra-right in an office located on this street. His massive burial, prior to the legalization of the PCE, was narrated cinematically in Seven days of January , by Juan Antonio Bardem. With the consolidation of the democratic regime, the 1978 constitution confirms Madrid as the capital of democratic Spain in whose support the massive demonstrations would take place after the failed coup d'état on February 23, 1981.

Enrique Tierno Galván and Ramón Tamames in a demonstration (1979)

In 1979, the first democratic municipal elections took place since the Second Republic in which the list of the UCD with José Luis Álvarez at the head was the most voted, but without an absolute majority. Enrique Tierno Galván was elected mayor of the city, thanks to the pact between the PSOE and the PCE. During this mayoralty, the City Council regenerated the city from the urban and social point of view. What was the dying capital of Francoism became the most important cultural center in Europe. The Madrid Movida was an example of this strength. There were also important improvements in the quality of life of the city's inhabitants. After the death of Enrique Tierno Galván, he was replaced by Juan Barranco, from the PSOE, with support from the PCE. Later the city turned to more conservative positions with Agustín Rodríguez Sahagún, from the CDS, and José María Álvarez del Manzano, from the PP. Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, of the PP, was appointed mayor of the city after his period at the head of the government of the Autonomous Community of Madrid. Finally, on December 27, 2011, Ana Botella became the first female mayor in the history of the municipality, after the appointment of her predecessor as Minister of Justice of Spain.

The democratic election of mayors definitely brings great benefits to the city, as mayors are forced to improve the quality of life of citizens, to which they answer (Franco mayors were directly elected by Franco): construction of libraries, sports facilities, health centers; elimination of shanty towns; cleaning of the Manzanares river; road improvement; closure of the M-30 to the north, burial of the M-30 in the Manzanares area; construction of new ring roads (M-40, M-45, M-50), while increasing the capacity of access roads (converted into dual carriageways or doubled with a toll road); regulation of parking (ORA) in the interior of the city, which reaches the limit of the M-30, with repeated neighborhood protests, all with the aim of absorbing and regulating the growing traffic. The role of large real estate companies has been decisive in marking the new urban style in the city of Madrid. The new neighborhoods are articulated around the block closed to the outside, with a core made up of green areas, swimming pools, children's play areas, sports courts, etc. This new urban style has been modeling a new social concept in which the street is no longer understood as a place of coexistence but as a mere element of transit. People in Madrid now tend to gather more in bars, private homes, parks or even car parks, giving rise to previously unknown phenomena such as the botellón.

Remains of the Islamist attacks of 11 March 2004

On the morning of March 11, 2004, the city's suburban transport network was the scene of the March 11, 2004 attacks claimed by Al-Qaeda, the most serious terrorist attack suffered in Spain and in the European Union for which 192 people were murdered and more than 1,900 were injured. attack. On December 30, 2006, ETA blew up the parking lot of terminal T4 of the Barajas airport, causing the death of two people. Since the attacks against Luis Carrero Blanco (1973) and the bar on Calle del Correo (1974, in front of the General Directorate of Security), Madrid has suffered a good part of the activity of this terrorist band, as well as that of other groups of all signs, such as the ultra-right, the GRAPO and Islamic terrorism.

In the XXI century, the city continues to face new challenges: maintaining the population within the urban core (Madrid is the municipality in Spain in which the increase in housing prices has been greater); expansion of the city (with the creation of new neighborhoods through the Urban Action Plan: Montecarmelo, La Peseta, Arroyo del Fresno, Valdebebas, Las Tablas, Sanchinarro, Ensanche de Vallecas...); remodeling of the historic center; absorption and integration of the immigration that comes to the city.

Demographics

The municipality, which has an area of 605.77 km², has, according to the INE municipal register for 2020, 3,334,730 inhabitants and a density of 5504.94 inhabitants/km².

Graphic of demographic evolution in Madrid between 1825 and 2020

Population according to Geographical-Statistic Dictionary of Spain and Portugal Sebastian Miñano.Population of law according to population censuses of the INE.Population according to the 2020 municipal register.

Between 1877 and 1887 the term of the municipality grew because it incorporated La Alameda. Likewise, it grew between 1940 and 1950 because it incorporated Aravaca, Barajas de Madrid, Canillas, Canillejas, Carabanchel Alto, Carabanchel Bajo, Chamartín de la Rosa, Fuencarral, Hortaleza, El Pardo, Vallecas and Vicálvaro, and between 1950 and 1960 it incorporated Villaverde.

Population

People at the Puerta del Sol

The population of Madrid has been experiencing a significant increase since it became the capital. This increase is especially significant during the period from 1940 to 1970, when its number of inhabitants almost tripled due to the large amount of internal immigration. This accelerated growth and the lack of urban planning led to the organization of substandard housing and residential areas., mainly in the southern districts, where public services would not arrive until many years later.

Starting in the 1970s, this increase slowed down in favor of the municipalities of the metropolitan area and Madrid even began to lose population. Since 1995, population growth has again been positive, mainly due to foreign immigration. According to available data, as of January 1, 2019, the population of Madrid amounted to 3,275,195 inhabitants, compared to 2,938,723 in the census of 2001.

Population movements

Bartity

In 2017, 29,032 births were registered in the city of Madrid, 14,916 males and 14,116 females. The birth rate is 9 points. Most of the births were by mothers between 35 and 40 years old, representing 34% of all births; It was followed by mothers from 30 to 35 years old with 32% of the total and from 25 to 30 with 13%. Mothers over 40 years of age accounted for 12% of all births and those under 25 years of age 8%. The mean age of the mothers was 33 years.

Mortality

In 2017, 28,594 deaths were registered in the city of Madrid.

Immigration

Main countries of origin of immigrants in Madrid
Post	Country	2017
1	Romania	43 441
2	ChinaChina	40 245
3	Venezuela Venezuela	39 279
4	ColombiaColombia	32 752
5	Peru Peru	26 813
6	ItalyItaly	25 933
7	EcuadorEcuador	24 141
8	HondurasHonduras	23 498
9	MoroccoMorocco	23 133
10	Paraguay Paraguay	20 435
11	Dominican RepublicDominican Republic	18 170
12	BoliviaBolivia	14 042
13	PhilippinesPhilippines	13 501
14	Portugal	12 086
15	France	10 957
16	BrazilBrazil	10 751
17	Ukraine Ukraine	9739
18	United States	8426
19	NicaraguaNicaragua	7620
20	BulgariaBulgaria	7582
21	CubaCuba	7133
22	United KingdomUnited Kingdom	7041
23	BangladésBangladés	6670
24	Argentina	6528
25	AlgeriaAlgeria	5976
26	Mexico Mexico	5857
27	PolandPoland	5558
28	GermanyGermany	5162
29	El Salvador	4705
30	ChileChile	2892

According to the 2019 census, the foreign population of Madrid is 462,343 inhabitants out of a total of 3,238,191, which is 14.12%. The districts with the largest immigrant population are Centro with 22.81%, Usera with 22.07%, Villaverde with 19.50% and Carabanchel with 19.37%. On the contrary, the districts with the lowest immigrant population are Retiro with 7.75%, Fuencarral-El Pardo with 8.50%, Moratalaz with 9.36% and Barajas with 9.45%.

Metropolitan Area

Map of Madrid and its metropolitan area (2012)

Aerial view of Madrid

Next to the city of Madrid, a series of urban centers are formed that establish a relationship of interdependence among themselves. In the case of Madrid, the interdependence clearly leans towards a dependency towards the center of the area, Madrid, which is known as a metropolitan area dependent on its nucleus, as opposed to a conurbation, in which the direction of the dependency is less clear, with greater interdependence in both directions. According to the modern concept of metropolitan area, regions of different intensity in their urban relations are classified: metropolitan urban area, metropolitan suburban area, peri-urban expansion area and peri-urban diffusion area. There would be another level of relationship, that of the area of influence of Madrid, which would reach interior areas of the neighboring autonomous communities of Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León. Each level of interdependence is stricter than the next, making it possible to assimilate the idea of a metropolitan suburban area with the idea of a metropolitan area defined by the Complutense University. The population of this area in 2004 would be 5,045,947.

Urbanism

Historical evolution

Plano de Madrid de Pedro Teixeira (1656) Mantua Carpetanorum sive Matritum Urbs Regia

Plane of 1762, with the fence of Philip IV. This wall would not be torn down until the middle of the centuryXIX.

The old town, originating from the Muslim medina, arises from a strategic location (the control of a ford of the Manzanares) that will determine a series of topographical limitations: the disposition of the original hamlet in the elevated areas over the river and the ravine of Segovia street, where they will establish, on the north side the citadel and on the south the Mozarabic and Jewish quarters (transmuted into Moorish quarters and Jewish quarters with the Christian occupation of the century XI).

When Felipe II made Madrid the capital of Spain, he agreed with the authorities of the Villa to establish a so-called «Room Charge», which was not exactly the same as the previous room royalty, since it was a permanent charge, non-transitory, which the Madrid authorities agreed with the king, in exchange for the latter establishing Madrid as the capital. According to this charge, those who had a house with more than one floor would give up one of them to house the large number of officials and second-rank courtiers who would arrive at the brand new capital of an important empire.. The city authorities thought about the economic advantages that being the capital would bring, but the people of Madrid, not particularly happy, began to build what were called casas a la malicia, on one floor, so as not to suffer the inconveniences of the Cargo. As a result of this the town center spread rapidly and in about forty years (at the beginning of the XVII century) it reached the fence that would be built later (to the north as far as the so-called boulevards and to the east as far as the Fuente Castellana stream, that is, Paseo de Recoletos and El Prado) and which would last practically until the XIX, as the city grew taller again.

The urban expansions necessarily had to be done to the east, due to the obstacle of the slopes over the river. The widest streets that lead to the Prado served as a "prestige" space, as the setting for processions and courtly parades. The approach of Paseo del Prado in the time of Carlos III responded to the same criteria, determined the future road axis and urban expansion of Paseo de la Castellana.

The rapid expansion of the 16th century occurred so quickly that it left no room for the creation of squares. It was at the beginning of the XIX century, with King José I, who intended to compare Madrid to other European capitals that already had with real museums open to the public. With this institution he intended to retain the works of art that his brother Napoleon and certain French soldiers were taking to France. The museum as such was never founded; It was his successor on the Spanish throne, Ferdinand VII of Spain, who undertook its creation and inaugurated it in 1819, as the Prado Museum. The people of Madrid nicknamed him the "king plazuelas", since he opened many plazas in the capital to the detriment of churches and convents, which were demolished. The most important was the Plaza de Oriente, in front of the Royal Palace.

After a few centuries in which the growth was contained in the old town, increasing the density of occupation originating, among other things, the model of the corralas, well described by the Madrid costumbrismo), the town hall, driven by private promoters (Marqués de Salamanca), proposed an ambitious urban extension.

Arturo Soria Linear City Project, presented in 1885

Beyond the boulevards that were opened when the 17th century fence was torn down, the second half of the century expansion was built XIX projected by Carlos María de Castro reaching the urban area until what was then called Paseo de Ronda, which ran through the current Reina Victoria, Raimundo Fernández Villaverde, Joaquín Costa, Francisco Silvela, Doctor Esquerdo, Reina Cristina, Infanta Isabel, Ronda de Atocha, Ronda de Valencia and Ronda de Toledo. From 1878 to 1910, the expropriation procedures for the construction of the Almudena cemetery on lands of the then town of Vicálvaro lasted, which is why the latter lost part of its territory in favor of the capital, when those known as "Las Huertas" broke away from it. de Vicálvaro» (the neighborhoods of La Elipa and Las Ventas del Espíritu Santo). In the areas that remain on the outskirts of the Eixample, spontaneous nuclei of more or less precarious self-built homes are appearing on the access roads to the city.

Housing Blocks in Canillas, one of the municipalities absorbed by Madrid throughout the centuryXX.

At the beginning of the XX century, the Ciudad Lineal de Arturo Soria was planned in its northeast area. His ambitious plan was not completed in all its extremes, and its integration with nature was definitively distorted with the urbanization of all intermediate spaces, both towards the urban center and towards the exterior. The building area was also increased in most of the plots, although there are still some that still have the same appearance as at the beginning of the century. It is also one of the few boulevards that have been preserved.

Since the end of the XIX century, the historic center underwent occasional alterations of some importance, the most significant intervention being the opening of the Gran Vía, which together with areas of the Castellana (Nuevos Ministerios, AZCA) form "screen" axes that isolate both sides of areas of lower building height and narrower width of the road.

The urban periphery of the XX century corresponds with the outer space to the so-called «central almond» defined by the M- 30, and which corresponds mostly to the old municipalities absorbed after the Civil War. In addition to the historic quarters of these populations, the new residential areas created on the old agricultural land are: shantytowns that were later rebuilt (Orcasitas, El Pozo del Tío Raimundo); or planning zones from the 1950s (San Blas); or private developments of urban speculation from the 1970s (barrio del Pilar) that have sometimes been described as "vertical shanty towns". The interstitial spaces are occupied by areas of productive use or public facilities, which in most cases had to make do with the scarce land that was left free from speculation, in the absence of planning with a greater perspective.

In the XXI century, the city expanded with the creation of new extensions made in the shape of a checkerboard, to accommodate to the middle and upper class who decide to abandon the city center in favor of new developments close to green areas. This Urban Action Plan includes the neighborhoods of Montecarmelo, La Peseta, Arroyo del Fresno, Valdebebas, Las Tablas, Sanchinarro, Ensanche de Vallecas, etc. These extensions included two types of architectural proposals: construction of singular and signature homes carried out by prestigious architects; or construction of large private development developments with high prices and luxurious endowments. The origin of these extensions coincides with the growth of the real estate bubble in Spain, around 2005-2010.

Architecture

Most of the tourist places in Madrid are located inside the so-called central almond (the area surrounded by the M-30), mainly in the Centro, Salamanca, Chamberí, Retiro and Arganzuela districts.

Arch of Cuchilleros in the Cava of San Miguel, next to the Plaza Mayor

The nerve center of Madrid is Puerta del Sol. In it, in front of the Real Casa de Correos (current headquarters of the Community of Madrid), is kilometer 0, the starting point for the numbering of all radial roads from the country. The reason is that when said numbering was made, in the XIX century, the Royal Post Office was the headquarters of the Ministry of the Government, equivalent to the current Ministry of the Interior, which was the one that had the competences in the matter. Ten streets start from this square: Calle Mayor, Arenal, Preciados, del Carmen, Montera, Alcalá, Carrera de San Jerónimo, Calle de Espoz and Mina, Carts and Post Office.

The Calle Mayor leads to the Plaza Mayor, built and rebuilt in successive interventions by the Master Builders of Madrid, the most present architects in the Madrid plan, such as Juan Gómez de Mora (1619) or Juan de Villanueva (1790). Continuing along the so-called Madrid de los Austrias (referring to the Habsburg dynasty) you finally arrive at Calle de Bailén, near the Almudena Cathedral and the Royal Basilica of San Francisco on Grande (Francisco Cabezas and Francesco Sabatini, 1784). The Almudena Cathedral underwent various projects from the XVIII century (Ventura Rodríguez) to the one that was finally executed (that of Fernando Chueca Goitia and Carlos Sidro, winners of the contest called in 1950); The neo-Romanesque crypt of the cathedral is the oldest and most valuable part of the complex, from the end of the XIX century (authored by Francisco de Vats). Near this point is the origin of Madrid, the ruins of the Muslim wall and the Tower of Bones from the old fortress of Mayrīt, as well as the later Christian wall. Some of the most beautiful garden areas in the city are found in this environment, such as the Campo del Moro and the Sabatini Gardens (and a little further west are the Casa de Campo and the Madrid Río Park, crossed by the Segovia bridge — Juan de Herrera— and Toledo Bridge —Pedro de Ribera—, near the Toledo Gate —by Antonio López Aguado—).

The Royal Palace and the street of Bailén

Arenal street reaches Plaza de Ópera, where the Teatro Real is located (Antonio López Aguado y Custodio Moreno, 1850). Continuing, you reach the Plaza de Oriente, where the Royal Palace (Filippo Juvara and Juan Bautista Sachetti, 1738-1764) is located at the intersection with Bailén street. From there in a northerly direction you reach Plaza de España, which with 36,900 m² is the largest square in Spain, where you can find the monument to Miguel de Cervantes, the España and Torre de Madrid buildings, and the Temple of Debod (an Egyptian temple moved stone by stone to Spain as thanks for the help offered in the construction of the Aswan Dam). Also in the Plaza de España (in an easterly direction) Calle de la Princesa starts, which leads to the Plaza de Moncloa (crowned by the Moncloa Lighthouse) and the University City; On the other hand, from Plaza de España (in a westward direction) the Gran Vía of Madrid begins.

Temple of Debod, transported stone to stone from Egypt

Plaza de España: on the left, the Torre de Madrid; in the center, the monument to Miguel de Cervantes; and on the right, the Edificio España

Calle de Preciados, Calle del Carmen and Calle de la Montera start at Puerta del Sol and head north, cutting off Madrid's Gran Vía. The streets of Carmen and Preciados do it in the Plaza del Callao and leave the Malasaña neighborhood to the north (with an important nightlife and cultural activity); and at the junction of Gran Vía with Montera street, the Malasaña area gives way to the Chueca neighborhood (LGBT nerve center in Spain). The Gran Vía, which begins in the Plaza de España, finally reaches the junction with the Calle de Alcalá in the vicinity of the Cibeles fountain and Paseo de la Castellana.

Alcalá street leads from Puerta del Sol to the northeast of the city. From here you can reach Plaza de Cibeles, where you can find emblematic places such as the Cibeles fountain, the Bank of Spain or the Palacio de Comunicaciones (Antonio Palacios, 1918), the current headquarters of the Madrid City Council. Subsequently, the street reaches the Plaza de la Independencia, where the Puerta de Alcalá, Calle de Serrano and an entrance to the Retiro Park are located (where emblematic places such as the Crystal Palace of 1887 are found —Ricardo Velázquez Bosco —, the Estanque Grande, the Casón del Buen Retiro or the Menagerie). Calle Alcalá continues through the Salamanca neighborhood (Madrid's golden mile, where the world's most important fashion and luxury brands are located) until it reaches the vicinity of the Palacio de Deportes (in Calle de Goya). Further on, Calle de Alcalá reaches the Las Ventas bullring (by José Espeliús in 1929, a very late example of the neo-Mudéjar style). Calle de Alcalá crosses the M-30 and continues until it reaches the A-2 highway in the vicinity of the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport.

The Carrera de San Jerónimo starts from the Puerta del Sol to the southeast, crossing the Plaza de Canalejas and the Plaza de las Cortes (next to the Palacio de las Cortes, seat of the Congress of Deputies), until finally reaching the Cánovas del Castillo square, where the Neptune fountain and the famous historic Ritz and Palace hotels are located. Next to them is the so-called Triangle of Art (Museo del Prado, Reina Sofía and Thyssen-Bornemisza), in the landscaped Salón del Prado. Not far away is the Botanical Garden, the Astronomical Observatory (Juan de Villanueva), the Ministry of Agriculture (by Ricardo Velázquez Bosco), the Basilica of Our Lady of Atocha, the Pantheon of Illustrious Men (Fernando Arbós y Tremanti) and the Real tapestry factory. Also in this environment is the church of San Jerónimo el Real, the Palacio de la Bolsa (by Enrique María Repullés) and the Royal Academy of the Spanish language.

Atocha Station

Correo street, Carretas street and Espoz y Mina street, start from Puerta del Sol to the south, towards the Las Letras neighborhood (an area where there are a multitude of cocktail bars and pubs , especially in the surroundings of Calle de Huertas, Calle de Atocha and Plaza de Santa Ana), and then you reach the Lavapiés neighborhood (currently a multicultural area of bars). The Barrio de las Letras ends at Paseo del Prado, in the vicinity of the Emperador Carlos V roundabout and the emblematic Atocha Station (designed by the engineer and architect Alberto de Palacio, enlarged in the 1990s by Rafael Moneo). In this area there is also the Railway Museum, in the district of Arganzuela.

White Towers of Saenz de Oiza

The Paseo del Prado, which since 2021 has been included in the list of World Heritage Sites, forming part of the Landscape of Light. It begins at the Emperador Carlos V roundabout and reaches the Cibeles fountain, continuing northward with the name of Paseo de Recoletos until the Plaza de Colón, where the National Library (Francisco Jareño) is located, the Torres de Colón (Antonio Lamela) and an underground cultural center under the Discovery Gardens (in the space occupied by the old Mint —the work of Jareño— and outside which stands the Monument to the Discovery of America —by Joaquín Vaquero Turcios—). There is also the Columbus Monument (by Arturo Mélida and Jerónimo Suñol) and the largest Spanish flag in the country (with a surface area close to 300 square meters and a 50-meter-high mast). At this point, Paseo de Recoletos changes its name again to Paseo de la Castellana, it becomes one of the most important streets in the capital, where the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium is located together with the business areas of Nuevos Ministerios, AZCA and Cuatro Torres Business Area (with some of the tallest buildings in the country, such as the Cuatro Torres). Close to this rise some outstanding works of contemporary architecture in Madrid: the Torre del Banco de Bilbao (by Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza, author of another of the landmarks of this period: the Torres Blancas building), the Picaso Tower and the popular Torres Kio (two leaning twin towers), from where the Madrid Nuevo Norte space begins.

Skyscrapers

Cuatro Torres Business Area

Although Madrid has never been a city that stands out for its skyscrapers, during the XX century, especially with the construction from the Gran Vía, the first ones were built that, although they could not be considered skyscrapers, were outstanding buildings. It was not until 1953 when the first skyscraper in Madrid was built, the Edificio España and in 1957 it was surpassed by the Torre de Madrid. In the 1980s, the AZCA skyscrapers were built, such as the Picasso Tower and the Torrespaña telecommunications tower (popularly known as the Pirulí), although this is not usually considered a skyscraper. During the XXI century, the Titania Tower (104 meters high, erected on the site of the destroyed Windsor Tower) was built in AZCA.; and the Cuatro Torres Business Area business park (Torre Espacio, Torre de Cristal, Torre PwC and Torre Cepsa) was built on Paseo de la Castellana, a complex of four skyscrapers over 200 meters high, the four tallest in Spain. Next to them, in 2020 the Caleido Tower is built.

Churches

Madrid has a considerable number of churches, most of them Catholic, although there are also Protestant and Orthodox temples.

Palaces

In Madrid there are numerous buildings considered palaces, including several residences of Spanish royalty.

Urban sculpture

Source of Cibeles, one of the iconic images of Madrid

The streets of Madrid are a veritable open-air sculpture museum. Since the 18th century, the Salón del Prado space was decorated with an iconographic program of monumental fonts with classical references: the fountain de la Alcachofa, the Four Fountains, the Neptune fountain, the Apollo fountain and the Cibeles fountain, all designed by Ventura Rodríguez. At the three doors of the Prado Museum are the statues dedicated to Murillo (Sabino Medina), Velázquez (Aniceto Marinas) and Goya (Mariano Benlliure); and then, in the Plaza de la Lealtad is the Obelisk to the fallen for Spain with a permanently lit flame of fire. Following the Salón de Prado, on Paseo de la Castellana, there is a series of statues of Spanish writers on the steps of the National Library (and inside, a notable one by Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo). In Paseo de la Castellana there are notable statues from the XIX and XX like the statue of Columbus, the monument to Castelar (by Mariano Benlliure, a prolific sculptor who has a lot of work exhibited in streets, buildings and in the Pantheon of Illustrious Men in Madrid), the Hand of Fernando Botero, the Monument to the Constitution (a marble cube from Macael –Almería–), the Monument to José Calvo Sotelo (in the Plaza de Castilla) and the open-air Sculpture Museum of La Castellana, dedicated to abstract works, among which the Stranded Mermaid (by Eduardo Chillida) and Unidades Yunta (by Pablo Serrano) stand out. Important sculptures from the XXI century are also located on the Paseo de la Castellana: in the Plaza de Castilla stands out the Obelisk of Calatrava, and in the Plaza de Colón stands the Fortune Frog (by Eladio de Mora) and Julia's head (by Jaume Plensa).

Pablo Serrano: Units-yunta, Madrid (1972)

Equestrian sculptures are particularly important in the city. Chronologically, two sculptures from the 17th century stand out: that of Felipe III, in the Plaza Mayor (the work of Giambologna) and that of Felipe IV in the Plaza de Oriente (one of the most important statues in Madrid for being considered the first equestrian statue in the world supported only by the horse's hind legs) designed by Velázquez and built by Pietro Tacca with scientific advice from Galileo Galilei. In the Puerta del Sol there is an equestrian sculpture of Carlos III, made on a design from the 18th century. From the XIX century are the statue of Espartero (in Alcalá street in front of the Retiro) and that of the Marqués del Duero (in Paseo de la Castellana). In Nuevos Ministerios was the equestrian statue of Francisco Franco (by José Capuz), which was removed in 2004 by decision of the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, causing a scandal and coinciding with the debate on historical memory.

In the center of the city of Madrid there are important sculptural areas with notable monuments: in the Plaza de Oriente a series of kings of Spain from the Visigoths and the different medieval Christian kingdoms are exhibited, who were lowered from the cornice of the Royal Palace of Madrid where they had previously been placed, as a result, according to one version, of a premonitory dream of Queen Isabel de Farnesio, in which she saw the statues collapse, which she interpreted as a fall of the monarchy. The other version says that the reason was the foundation problems that its considerable weight could cause, for which reason they were replaced by lighter ornaments. Other of these statues are preserved in the Sabatini Gardens, in the Retiro Park, in the Salón de Reinos (former Army Museum) or in the cities of Burgos and Toledo.

Angel Fallen (Bellver, 1877)

Another sculptural area is the Retiro Park, where you can find El Ángel Caído (by Ricardo Bellver), the Monument to Alfonso XII (designed by José Grasés Riera), the equestrian statue of Martínez Campos (by Benlliure) and more hidden the monuments dedicated to Julio Romero de Torres and Ramón y Cajal (Victorio Macho, 1926). In front of the Casón del Buen Retiro stands a statue of the regent queen María Cristina de Borbón (carried out by Benlliure) and next to it, inside the Botanical Garden there is a statue dedicated to Carlos III.

Lions of the Congress of Deputies, erected in the centuryXIX

Scattered throughout the center of Madrid are many other notable sculptures: at Puerta del Sol itself, at one end is the sculpture symbol of Madrid El Oso y el Madroño, and at the other end is the replica of La Mariblanca (whose original is in the Museum of History). In the Plaza de la Ópera is the statue of Isabel II (which was removed during the Second Republic). Other of the most famous sculptures in the capital are the Lions of the Courts, made by Ponciano Ponzano with the cast bronze of the cannons of the African War (1886), in front of which is a statue of Miguel de Cervantes. In the Plaza de España there is a large sculptural group: the Monument to Cervantes, by Lorenzo Coullaut Valera. Other popular statues in Madrid are the sculpture group dedicated to Daoiz and Velarde (in the Plaza del Dos de Mayo, where the Monteleón artillery barracks used to be) and the sculpture of Eloy Gonzalo, known as "the hero of Cascorro", who presides over the Rastro de Madrid (work of Aniceto Marinas and with a pedestal by the architect José López Sallaberry).

The Lady of Manzanares (Manolo Valdés and Ricardo Bofill, 2003)

More sculptural examples can be found in contemporary times, such as La Gloria y los Pegasos from the Palacio de Fomento (in Atocha), originally sculpted in marble by Agustín Querol and which were replaced by hollow bronze copies due to their excessive weight. After years of storage, the Pegasos made of marble were placed in 1997 in the Plaza de Legazpi, and La Gloria sculpted in marble was installed in 1998 in the roundabout of Cádiz, in Usera. Other notable examples are the Fénix located on the top of the La Unión building and the Fénix on Calle Alcalá; the Minerva of the Círculo de Bellas Artes; or the charioteers of the Banco Hispano Americano in the Plaza de Sevilla. Also, some statues of prominent Republicans were removed after the Civil War and rescued in democracy, such as the bust of Pablo Iglesias, the work of Emiliano Barral. Another famous bust, that of Antonio Machado (the work of Pablo Serrano in 1966) was sculpted during the Franco regime and had to be kept hidden for years, today installed at the entrance of the National Library. Another more modern sculpture is La Puerta de la Ilustración, a large semicircular tube structure that crosses the road on Avenida de la Ilustración, is the work of Andreu Alfaro, also the author of the sculptural group of the Aluche interchange. Likewise, scattered throughout Madrid, important sculptures of the XXI century, such as La Dama del Manzanares (by Manolo Valdés and Ricardo Bofill) stand out., and commemorative monuments such as El abrazo de Juan Genovés, (also known as the monument to the lawyers of Atocha in memory of the victims of the 1977 massacre), the Monument to the victims of 11M (in front of the Atocha Station) and El Tree of Life (by Jaume Plensa) in memory of the victims of COVID-19.

In the form of reliefs, attached to buildings or perched on their cornices are a multitude of sculptures. At the end of the Baroque, the complex portals of Pedro de Ribera stand out (the one of the old Hospice, today the Madrid History Museum, and the one of the Monte de Piedad, as well as the decoration of the Toledo bridge and many other unique buildings). In another order of things, the neon luminous advertising signs also stand out, some of which have acquired historic status and are legally protected, such as the Schweppes one in the Plaza del Callao, or the Tío Pepe one in the Puerta del Sol.

Parks and gardens

Crystal Palace in El Retiro

Madrid is one of the European cities with the highest proportion of green areas per inhabitant, specifically 70 m² compared to the 20 m² average in Europe. In addition, with nearly 300,000 trees, it is the second city in the world in number of these in the streets and promenades, only surpassed by Tokyo. Two of the three existing regional parks in the Community of Madrid protect portions of the municipality of Madrid. More than a quarter of its term is protected by the Cuenca Alta del Manzanares Regional Park, which includes Mount El Pardo and Soto de Viñuelas, natural spaces located to the northwest and north of the urban area, respectively. To the south, 783 ha remain protected within the Southeast Regional Park.

• The Retiro Park is located in the heart of the city, and with 118 hectares, it is one of the most significant places in Madrid. It is part of the so-called Landscape of Light, which in 2021 entered the list of World Heritage. It has many monuments and places of interest, such as the Palacio de Cristal, the door of Spain, from Alfonso XII Street, La rosaleda, the pond and many fountains. It also has the first statue of the world dedicated to the devil: that of the Fallen Angel.
• The Royal Botanic Garden is next to the Pinacoteca of the Museo del Prado. It has four staggered terraces, the terrace of the Tables, the Botanical Schools, the Plano de la Flor and the Laureles, which contain plants of America and the Pacific, as well as European plants. It is embedded within the Landscape of Light.

Royal Botanic Garden of Madrid

• The Gardens of Sabatini, of neoclassical style, are located on the north facade of the Royal Palace, between the street of Bailén and the Cuesta de San Vicente. They are located in the place occupied by the Royal Caballerizas, and that after their disuse they gave rise to the new gardens. Next to the Sabatini Gardens are the Jardines de la Plaza de Oriente, on the east facade of the Royal Palace, where a sculptural set of great interest is located.
• The Madrid Rio park is a new river park around the Manzanares River between the bridge of Franceses and the South Nude, and with 121 ha and 6 km long. It connects some of the main green areas of the city and central and southwest districts. Some of its most outstanding areas are the Pinos Hall, the Jardines de la Virgen del Puerto and the Jardines del Puente de Toledo. The continuation of the Madrid Rio park is the linear park of Manzanares, which runs parallel to the river between the districts of Usera, Puente de Vallecas, Villaverde and Villa de Vallecas; with an area of 530 ha, it is appreciated for its ecological value within the urban center.

Lago de la Casa de Campo with the towers of Plaza de España at the bottom

• The Casa de Campo is located in the district of Moncloa-Aravaca and with an extension of 1722.60 ha, Casa de Campo is the real lung of Madrid. Such is its size that inside are located the Madrid Attractions Park, the Madrid Zoo Park, or the Cable Car that connects with the West Park. Historically belonging to the Royal House, the proclamation of the Second Republic meant its surrender to the people of Madrid in 1931, opening for the first time this forest park to the enjoyment of the Madrid.

Capricho Park

• The Capricho park is located in the Alameda de Osuna, northeast of the city, and has an area of 14 ha. It is considered one of the most beautiful parks in the city. From its corners are the Plaza del Capricho, the Palace, the pond, the Plaza de los Emperadores, or the fountain of the Dolphins and the Ranas.
• La Quinta de la Fuente del Berro is located in the Salamanca district, and has an extension of 13 ha. It is a historic garden of the centuryXVII of landscape style where a series of water elements (stank, river, waterfall and lake) are developed that provide a romantic character. It highlights the peacocks that live in freedom and stroll through the park and the surrounding streets.
• La Quinta de Vista Alegre is a historic garden declared Cultural Interest Good, with 45 hectares of surface, located in the Carabanchel district. Built in 1802 it was the summer residence of queen Maria Cristina de Borbón and Isabel II. Inside it stands out the Palacio de Vista Alegre, the Old Palace, the navigable river and its romantic setting.
• The West Park is located between the La Coruña road, the University City and the Moncloa area. It has an area of 98.60 ha and contains species such as cedars of Lebanon, chops, tiles and beech. In addition, every year, it is celebrated in the park International Contest of New Roses of the Villa of Madrid. In it is the Temple of Debod.
• La Dehesa de la Villa is located northwest of the city of Madrid, its main characteristic is that it maintains its forest condition, and is mostly unharmed. The most common tree of the dehesa is the pine, of which there are six species, mainly piñoneros and carrascos. Among these are many other species such as oaks, acacias or cypresses. The most common birds are, as in the rest of the city, pigeons, sparrows and rags. Other species that are usually seen are bubilla, pico picapinos or petirrojo.
• El Pinar de San José is located in the neighborhood of La peseta, west of the city of Madrid. Its main characteristic is that it maintains its forest condition without gardening. In the Pinar de San José there are still thousands of pine trees that were planted in 1906 by the Order of Saint John of God. The most common birds in this pine are: sneezers, bubillas, doves, urracas, gorriones molineros, cotorras argentinas, pitos reales, agateadoras, carboneros y herrerillos. The Pinar de San José has an area of 27,03 ha, which can reach 50 ha according to the current project of expansion of the forest park.
• La Quinta de los Molinos is located in the district of Canillejas, with an area of 25 ha. It is a historic park that includes large tracts of trees, in which the almond trees stand out, which flourish in February and March, offering a fantastic show.
• The Quinta de Torres Arias is located in the district of Canillejas, with an area of 17 ha. Inside it stands out the palace of the centuryXVI and its gardens with 300-year-old oaks.
• Valdebebas-Felipe VI forest park is located in the northeast of the city in the Valdebebas district. With 470 ha, it is the second largest park in the city after Casa de Campo.
• Parque Juan Carlos I is one of the largest in the city, with 220 ha. Juan Carlos I park houses the IFEMA fairground, where some of the most important annual exhibitions in Europe such as the SIMO are held. In addition, highlights the call Garden of the Three Cultureswith three landscaped areas representing Christian, Jewish and Muslim cultures.
• The park of Enrique Tierno Galván is located in the Arganzuela district, has an area of 45 ha and is located next to the Planetarium and the Railway Museum (formerly Delicias train station), with a beautiful print from previous times.

Peripheral neighborhoods

Stadium of the Magic Fund in the Usera district

Although it is the downtown area that concentrates most of the tourist interest, some places of interest are found in the suburbs.

The Royal Palace of El Pardo is located in the district of Fuencarral-El Pardo. Its environment, the El Pardo mountain, is protected both for being part of the National Heritage and for its ecological value, due to its abundant and diverse native flora and fauna. This protected space is also home to the Zarzuela Palace, residence of the Spanish royal family. Close to them, in the Moncloa-Aravaca district, is the Moncloa Palace, residence of the President of the Government of Spain.

Other places of interest located in the periphery are the Metropolitano stadium, current headquarters of the Atlético de Madrid soccer team (San Blas-Canillejas district), the Caja Mágica tennis pavilion (Usera district), the Palacio de Vistalegre stadium (Carabanchel district), the Madrid Arena multipurpose pavilion (Moncloa-Aravaca district), the Zarzuela hippodrome (Fuencarral-El Pardo district) and the Real Madrid de Valdebebas City (Barajas district)

These are also areas of special tourist interest: the IFEMA multi-purpose fairground (Barajas district), the Cuatro Torres Business Area; and the neighborhood of La Peseta due to its great interest in being the expansion with the most architectural awards per square meter in the world. Likewise, the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport and the Madrid-Cuatro Vientos Airport (in the district of Latina), whose tourist interest lies in the possibility of entering and leaving the city by plane.

Madrid City Council

Municipal plenary

Administration and politics

Municipal government

The city of Madrid is governed by the Madrid City Council, whose representatives are elected every four years by universal suffrage of all citizens over 18 years of age. The body is chaired (2019) by the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida.

Capital

Zero kilometres in the Sun Gate

Being the capital, with its spatial, functional and physiognomic effects, constitutes the differentiation factor of Madrid with respect to the rest of Spanish cities. Being the capital favored the demographic increase and the economic and cultural prosperity of the town. Despite the fact that since 1561 the permanent establishment of the Court in Madrid granted the Villa the status of capital (of the Catholic Monarchy and of the Spanish Empire at that time), the recognition legal status of the capital function would have to wait longer. Specifically, it was not until 1931, with the advent of the Second Spanish Republic, that this fact was made constitutionally official. Similarly, it was officially recognized as the capital of Spain during the Franco regime in the Madrid Special Regime Law of July 11, 1963, a fact that was later sanctioned in the 1978 Constitution. Until 2006, a law was not promulgated, the Madrid Capital and Special Regime Law, through which Parliament legislatively developed the consequences of this specificity.

Since 1561 it lost the status of capital of Spain, and consequent seat of Government and State administration, during a series of historical stages: the first one between the years 1601 and 1606, when the capital passed to Valladolid; later, from 1729 to 1733, in the so-called lustro real , the court moved to Seville by decision of Isabel de Farnesio, who was seeking a cure for the depressive state of her husband, King Felipe V; also during the War of Independence the Supreme Central Board, opposed to José Bonaparte, was established in Seville, in 1808, and in 1810, as the Council of Regency, in Cádiz; finally, during the Civil War, although Madrid did not cease to be the capital of the Republic in accordance with article 5 of the Spanish Constitution of 1931, the Republican Government moved to Valencia in November 1936 and to Barcelona in November of the following year, until the fall of Catalonia in February 1939, when a part of the Government headed by its president, Juan Negrín, moved to Alicante. The Government of the rebel side, for its part, established itself in Burgos and, after the end of the war, the capital was established there until October 18, 1939, when it was moved again to Madrid.

Territorial organization

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Madrid districts numbered. The numbers correspond to the ranking of the left

Madrid is administratively divided into 21 districts, which in turn are subdivided into neighborhoods, not necessarily coinciding with the traditional neighborhoods. Each of the districts is administered by a Municipal District Board, with powers centered on channeling their citizen participation. The last administrative division of Madrid dates from 1988 and structures the city into a total of 21 districts and 131 neighborhoods:

1. Center. Palacio, Embajadores, Cortes, Justicia, Universidad y Sol.
2. Arganzuela. Imperial, Acacias, La Chopera, Legazpi, Delicias, Palos de la Frontera and Atocha.
3. Withdrawal. Pacific, Alphs, Star, Ibiza, Jerome and Child Jesus.
4. Salamanca: Recoletos, Goya, Fuente del Berro, Guindalera, Lista and Castellana.
5. Chamartín: El Viso, Prosperidad, Ciudad Jardin, Hispanoamérica, Nueva España y Castilla.
6. Tetuán: Bellas Vistas, Cuatro Caminos, Castillejos, Almenara, Valdeacederas and Berruguete.
7. Chamberí: Gaztambide, Arapiles, Trafalgar, Almagro, Ríos Rosas and Vallehermoso.
8. Fuencarral-El Pardo: El Pardo, Fuentelarreina, Peñagrande, Barrio del Pilar, La Paz, Valverde, Mirasierra and El Goloso.
9. Moncloa-Aravaca: Casa de Campo, Argüelles, Ciudad Universitaria, Valdezarza, Valdemarín, El Plantío and Aravaca.
10. Latin: Los Cármenes, Puerta del Ángel, Lucero, Aluche, Camp, Cuatro Vientos y Las Águilas.
11. Carabanchel: Comillas, Opañel, San Isidro, Vista Alegre, Puerta Bonita, Buenavista and Abrantes.
12. Usera: Orcasitas, Orcasur, San Fermin, Almonds, Moscardó, El Zofio and Pradolongo.
13. Puente de Vallecas: Entrevías, San Diego, Palomeras Bajas, Palomeras Sureste, Portazgo and Numancia.
14. Moratalaz: Pavones, Horcajo, Marroquina, Media Legua, Fontarrón and Vinateros.
15. Ciudad Lineal: Ventas, Pueblo Nuevo, Quintana, La Concepción, San Pascual, San Juan Bautista, Colina, Atalaya and Costillares.
16. Hortaleza: Palomas, Piovera, Canillas, Pinar del Rey, Apostle Santiago and Valdefuentes.
17. Villaverde: Villaverde Alto, San Cristobal, Butarque, Los Rosales and Los Angeles.
18. Villa de Vallecas: Casco Histórico de Vallecas, Santa Eugenia y Ensanche de Vallecas.
19. Vicálvaro: Historic Helmet of Vicálvaro, Valdebernardo, Valderrivas and El Cañaveral.
20. San Blas-Canillejas: Simancas, Hellín, Amposta, Arcos, Rosas, Rejas, Canillejas and Salvador.
21. Barajas: Alameda de Osuna, Aeropuerto, Casco Histórico de Barajas, Timón y Corralejos.

Geography

Location

The city of Madrid is located in the central area of the Iberian Peninsula, a few kilometers north of Cerro de los Ángeles, the geographical center of the Peninsula. The coordinates of the city are 40°26′N 3°41′W / 40.433, -3.683. The population center of Madrid is located at 657 m above sea level, making it one of the highest capitals in Europe. The maximum altitude of the municipality is approximately 846 meters, which occurs to the northwest of Pardo, near Torrelodones, and its minimum altitude of about 543 m occurs in the south, on the banks of the Manzanares river. The closest coastal point It is located 305 km from Madrid, located in the province of Valencia.

The geographical and climatic context of Madrid is that of the South Subplateau, within the Central Plateau. The city is located a few kilometers from the Sierra de Guadarrama and hydrographically it is located in the Tagus basin.

Municipalities bordering Madrid:

Duration of the day, sunset and sunrise in Madrid during 2011

Northwest: Colmenar Viejo, Hoyo de Manzanares, Torrelodones	North: Three Songs, Alcobendas	Northeast: Colmenar Viejo, San Sebastian de los Reyes, Alcobendas
West: Las Rozas de Madrid, Majadahonda, Pozuelo de Alarcón		This: Paracuellos de Jarama, San Fernando de Henares, Coslada
Southwest: Alcorcón, Leganés	South: Getafe	Sureste: Rivas-Vaciamadrid

Map of the municipality

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Interactive map — Madrid and its municipality

Hydrography

Map with the water courses of the city of Madrid and its surroundings

Madrid's main river is the Manzanares, which enters the municipality around Mount El Pardo, feeding the reservoir of the same name, which is also filled with water from the Manina and Tejada streams. After this natural area, the river begins its urban course around the university city, briefly entering the Casa de Campo, where it receives the waters of the Meaques stream.

The Manzanares River in Madrid

In this more properly urban section, towards the Puente del Rey, it received the waters of the Leganitos stream (its trough is the San Vicente promenade), then that of another stream that ran along Segovia street, and further on the waters of the Fuente Castellana stream (the source was located in the so-called Altos del Hipódromo, towards where the current National Museum of Natural Sciences is located, and the streambed ran along the current Castellana-Prado axis).

In its next stretch it serves as a border between numerous districts, leaving Latina, Carabanchel, Usera and Villaverde on its southwest margin and the Centro, Arganzuela, Puente de Vallecas, Villa de Vallecas and the rest of the districts in the northeast from the city. In this phase, specifically between the districts of Arganzuela and Puente de Vallecas, it receives the bed of the underground Abroñigal stream, whose route coincides almost entirely with that of the M-30 motorway, as the depression caused by its bed is used as a soundproofing measure. of the fast track; it also receives the waters of the Butarque stream, these around the district of Villaverde.

As it leaves the city of Madrid, the river enters the eastern end of the municipality of Getafe, where it receives the waters of the Culebro stream, to empty shortly after into the waters of the Jarama river, now in the area around Rivas- Empty Madrid.

In addition to those that drain into the Manzanares, there are other small river courses in the city of Madrid and its surroundings. This is the case of the Moraleja, La Vega, Valdelamasa or Viñuelas streams, which drain directly into the Jarama or the Cedrón stream, which drains into the Guadarrama River.

Climate

Sky with clouds in Madrid

According to the Köppen climate classification, the climate of Madrid in the period 1981-2010 can be considered in transition between the typical Mediterranean climate (Csa) and the cold semi-arid climate (BSk), tending more towards the former. Other sources describe Madrid's climate as continental Mediterranean, differentiating it from the typical Mediterranean climate (which occurs in areas near the coast), as it has a greater annual thermal amplitude and less rainfall due to its altitude and distance from the sea. sea. The climate of Madrid is highly influenced by urban conditions (see: heat island). The average temperature (reference period: 1981-2010) is around 14.5 and 15 °C.

Climograma de Madrid (Retiro)

Winters are moderately cold, with average temperatures in the coldest month (January) around 6 °C. Frosts are frequent in December and January and occasional snowfalls during winter (between 1 and 4 days of snow per year). In this month the average maximum temperature is around 10 °C and the minimum around 3 °C. Summers are very hot. The warmest months are July and August, although July is slightly warmer. In this month, the averages exceed 25 °C, with average maximum temperatures between 32 and 33.5 °C and average minimum temperatures of around 17 to 19 °C. At some times of the day it can exceed 35 °C during the summer. The daily thermal amplitude is important in the urban periphery (reaching over 13 °C), but it is reduced in the city center due to the effect anthropic (dropping even below 10 °C). The annual thermal amplitude is high (between 19 and 20 °C, a figure typical of the South Plateau) as a consequence of the great distance to the sea and the altitude (around 650 meters).

Encinas on Mount El Pardo at the end of spring

Madrid enjoys some 2,800 hours of sunshine a year, making it one of the cities with the most hours of sunshine on the peninsula. Annual rainfall is around 400 mm, with a marked minimum in summer (especially in July and August). In fact, together with Athens, which has a similar annual rainfall, although with less cold winters, it is the driest capital in Europe. The maximum precipitation occurs in autumn (October to December) and in the spring months of April and May. The average humidity during the year is around 57%, with a large oscillation between the cold seasons, which are much more humid, and the warm seasons, which are very dry. The average annual wind speed is between 7 and 10 km/h.

Below are three tables with the climatological values in the reference period between 1981 and 2010 in the three AEMET observatories located in the municipality of Madrid: the Retiro observatory located 667 m above sea level, the Madrid-Barajas airport observatory at 609 m and the Madrid-Cuatro Vientos airport observatory at 690m. Note that the extreme values are also taken in the period 1981-2010.

Average climatic parameters of Madrid (667 m), El Retiro, in the city centre (1981–2010), extremes (1920–)
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. abs. (°C)	19.9	22.0	26.7	30.1	35.5	40.7	39.7	40.6	38.9	30.0	22.7	18.6	40.7
Average temperature (°C)	9.8	12.0	16.3	18.2	22.2	28.2	32.1	31.3	26.4	19.4	13.5	10.0	19.9
Average temperature (°C)	6.3	7.9	11.2	12.9	16.7	22.2	25.6	25.1	20.9	15.1	9.9	6.9	15.0
Temp. medium (°C)	2.7	3.7	6.2	7.7	11.3	16.1	19.0	18.8	15.4	10.7	6.3	3.6	10.1
Temp. min. abs. (°C)	-10.1	-9.1	-5.1	-1.6	0.6	4.4	8.5	9.2	4.0	-0.4	-3.4	-9.2	-10.1
Total precipitation (mm)	33	35	25	45	51	21	12	10	22	60	58	51	423
Precipitation days (≥ 1 mm)	6	5	4	7	7	3	2	2	3	7	7	7	59
Hours of sun	149	158	211	230	268	315	355	332	259	199	144	124	2744
Source: State Meteorology Agency

The following shows some extreme values recorded in the three meteorological stations of the AEMET of the municipality of Madrid considered from between the year 1920 and 1961 depending on the season and the climatological variable. The absolute maximum temperature is 42.2 °C, recorded on July 24, 1995 at the Madrid-Barajas airport observatory, and the absolute minimum temperature of -15.2 °C recorded on January 16, 1945 at the Madrid-Barajas airport observatory. The maximum rainfall record in one day is 87 mm on September 21, 1972 at the Retiro observatory, and the maximum gust of wind of 147 km/h recorded on July 7, 2017 at the Madrid airport observatory. Decks.

Considering the period after 2010, the maximum historical temperatures of 42.7 °C were recorded at the Madrid-Barajas airport on August 14, 2021 and 40.6 °C at the Retiro park in Madrid, on August 10, 2012 and on August 14, 2021. At the Madrid-Cuatro Vientos airport, the maximum historical temperature of 42.2 °C was recorded on August 14, 2021.

Economy

Part of the gross domestic product (GDP) of Madrid (2003)

In 2003, the city of Madrid had a gross domestic product (GDP) of 79,785 million euros, which represented 10% of national income. Of the economic sectors of the city, the most important is the tertiary or service sector, which already represents 85.09% of the city's economy. Within this sector, financial services (31.91% of total GDP) and commercial activities (31.84% of total GDP) stand out. The rest of GDP is contributed by industry (8.96% of total GDP), the construction sector (5.93% of total GDP). Agriculture has a residual character, so that it barely contributes 0.03% of the total.

It is the largest business center in Spain: in 2008, 72% of the 2,000 largest companies in Spain had their headquarters in Madrid. And, currently, 50.1% of the revenue of the 5,000 main Spanish companies are generated by companies with headquarters in Madrid, which represent 31.8% of them.

Madrid was ranked in a 2008 Mastercard report as the 5th largest center of commerce in Europe (after London, Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam) and the 11th worldwide.

Economic history

The Ancient Regime

The Plaza Mayor of Madrid, which was conceived in origin as a market in the villa's slope, ended up being the scene of public shows, such as executions or bullfighting

The city experienced great development as a result of Felipe II making it the capital of the Kingdom.

The administrative function that he carried out since then, accentuated by the centralist character of the government system established by the Bourbons, fostered the development of artisan activity, with the inclusion of some proto-capitalist institutions, such as the Five Major Guilds or the Banco of San Carlos and some royal manufactures, such as the famous Buen Retiro Porcelain, destroyed in the War of Independence or the Tobacco Factory in the Embajadores roundabout. Urban supply occupied a central place in the concern of public powers (state and municipal), and rested on a complex network of public and private agents and institutions (pósito, fiel almotacén, rastro, repesos, obligados, tablajeros, resellers, etc..) that functioned around the market (squares and Plaza Mayor), following the paternalistic and protectionist system typical of mercantilism. During the Old Regime, Madrid was an imperial capital, sometimes described as an economic parasite that sucked resources from its domains without directly contributing to the genesis of its wealth.

Unlike other cities in the transition from feudalism to capitalism (notably London or Paris), its geographical position, on a plateau not connectable by river and isolated by mountain ranges from a coast hundreds of kilometers away, made it impossible for it to be the commercial center of the Hispanic Monarchy (a role that Seville could play, or it could have been Lisbon, if Felipe II had chosen it that way). Therefore, the main function of Madrid was to be the center of political and social life, and economically a market for luxury consumption and the reference market for Castilian agriculture (mainly cereals). The integration of a national market was not possible until well into the 19th century, with the layout of railways and political changes. -economic of the liberal era (such as the confiscation).

The Contemporary Age and the Workers' Movement

Month of Republicans and Socialists in the missing Jai Alai Fronton in 1909

Madrid did not become a center of industrial importance in the XIX century, unlike other Spanish and European cities. The main goods transported by the Aranjuez train (the first destination connected with Madrid and which is still called the Strawberry Train) were the wood that the gancheros brought down from the Alto Tajo mountains and fed construction, which has always been one of the main economic activities, in the absence of a more basic productive fabric. A good example of industrial weakness was the relatively scarce development of the labor movement, which always had its center of gravity in Barcelona. The founding of the PSOE and the UGT in Madrid were curiously the result of the personality of Pablo Iglesias, a printer worker (an industry linked to a traditional Madrid urban activity: publishing books and newspapers).

Beers factory "The Eagle". Example of the industrial architecture of the XIX and principles XX.

Industrial expansion occurred in the 20th century, especially after the Civil War and the postwar period. it focused on dynamic sectors, such as chemistry, metallurgy and other specialties related to the urban consumption of advanced technology: precision mechanics, electronics, pharmaceuticals, and others. A factor that favored the industrial development of this period was the encouragement of the Administration, as a result of Madrid being the capital of the State, which brought as an indirect consequence the location of a large number of headquarters of national and international companies. The labor movement, necessarily framed within the Francoist vertical union, also responds to this new dynamic with the extension of the illegal Workers' Commissions (born in the Asturian mining industry) to the factories of Madrid's industrial periphery, thanks to the activity of activists such as Marcelino Camacho and Father Llanos.

Since the arrival of democracy and despite the administrative decentralization, the expansive trend of the city has been maintained, so that today it presents one of the most dynamic and diversified economies in the European Union. The privileged geographical position of the city, a very good level of infrastructure and a high degree of concentration of human capital, with a high level of training, undoubtedly contributed.

Productive activities

Number 69 of Serrano Street, building designed by Fernando Higueras and current headquarters of Santander Asset Management

The industry in the city of Madrid loses weight little by little, to move to the municipalities of the Madrid metropolitan area, especially the south-southeast arc. Even so, industry continues to account for a relevant percentage of the city's GDP. Construction was the fastest growing sector in Madrid in 2005, estimated at 8.2%. The trend shows an increase in non-residential construction, driven by the slight slowdown in the increase in house prices in 2005.

But it is the services sector that leads economic activity in Madrid, with 85% of the total, and employs two thirds of the active population. In addition to the traditional administrative functions, as it houses the central State Administration, and financial (Madrid is the headquarters of a large number of companies that carry out their activity throughout Spain and is home to half of the national financial capital), those related to the transportation or with the strength of the Adolfo Suárez, Madrid-Barajas airport. In fact, the largest centers of employment and contribution to the GDP of the city of Madrid are the airport itself and Ifema, the city's fairgrounds, which with its 4.7 million annual visitors is the leading fair in Spain and one of the the main ones in Europe.

In addition, Madrid has become one of the most visited cities in Europe, behind only London, Paris, Istanbul, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Milan, Rome and Vienna, in addition to being the second in Spain. A large number of tourist, leisure and cultural activities take place in the city.

Fairs, exhibitions and congresses

Madrid, in addition to being a national leader in terms of fairs and exhibitions, is the main fair organizer in Europe, taking into account international, national and regional fairs in terms of rented area for its exhibitors. It has the first fair organization in Spain, IFEMA, which organizes fairs such as: FITUR, Madrid Fusión, ARCO, SIMO TCI, the Automobile Show and the Cibeles Madrid Fashion Week.

Fashion

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid (2017)

Madrid is a benchmark for Spanish fashion and has international events in the sector, such as Cibeles Madrid Fashion Week.

The Cibeles Madrid Fashion Week, from 2012 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, is the fourth most important catwalk in the world behind those of New York, Milan and Paris. It takes place during the months of February and September. It is held at IFEMA. It is the first Catwalk that demands a healthy image from its models.

Shopping areas

The city of Madrid has a large number of fashion brands. In addition, thanks to the international event Pasarela Cibeles, called Cibeles Madrid Fashion Week since 2007, all the main brands have their headquarters in the city. Although the retail stores are distributed throughout the city, there are also areas of special commercial concentration such as the surroundings of Puerta del Sol, Serrano and Goya streets.

There are establishments specialized in haute couture of the main international brands, such as Emporio Armani and Gucci, as well as Spanish ones such as Zara, Loewe or Cortefiel. And high jewelry, such as the Madrid firm Carrera y Carrera. There are also a multitude of casual and sports clothing stores, with the presence of the main brands. It is worth noting the El Corte Inglés chain, especially dedicated to fashion, and which has centers in the busiest parts of the city.

In the Plaza Mayor and its arcades there are stalls selling stamps, coins and all kinds of collectibles every Sunday. It is currently the largest philatelic and numismatic market in Spain. The El Rastro street market is also well known, which takes place on Sundays and holidays around Ribera de Curtidores street. Madrid offers the possibility of enjoying the few classic coffees that remain. The literary Café Gijón (Paseo de Recoletos, 21) and the Café Comercial (Glorieta de Bilbao, 7), closed in 2015, but reopened on March 27, 2017 fully restored, stand out.

Tourism

Plaza Mayor de Madrid

Madrid, in the first half of 2019, was the most visited city in Spain with 10.4 million tourists, surpassing cities such as Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca or Seville. It is also the headquarters of the World Tourism Organization and the International Tourism Fair (FITUR). During 2017 it was the most sought after destination by tourists from Argentina.

The most visited places in the city in 2013 by tourists, both national and foreign, were:

Nightlife

The gate of Alkalah at night

During the 1980s and after the end of the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, Madrid experienced a period of countercultural and nightlife boom, known as “movida madrileña”, which since then has positioned the city as one of the the best known for its nightlife, bars and discos. This is popularly known as a "march" or "party". It is organized mainly in the Centro district, where all kinds of styles and nationalities come together, giving rise to a rich mix, with many options, until late in the morning. early morning (1:00-7:00 a.m.). There is a marked difference between the places focused on national and international tourism. The areas traditionally oriented to the concentration of entertainment venues are the Plaza de Santa Ana, in the so-called "Barrio de las Letras", and the neighborhoods of Malasaña, around Plaza Dos de Mayo, La Latina, Lavapiés, and Chueca. It is also worth noting areas such as Moncloa, Avenida de Brasil or the Salamanca neighborhood. The Letras or Huertas neighborhood is known for its social heterogeneity during the night in Madrid, since a large number of international tourists mix with tourism from the provinces and the local Madrid. The age range is also very varied.

Bars and restaurants in Barcelona street, close to Puerta del Sol

On the other hand, Malasaña has traditionally been a different or bohemian entertainment neighbourhood, so "alternative" music bars, rock, pop and certain electronic music are very common. It was one of the precursors of the "botellón" in Madrid, until its abolition, and it has several very famous venues. Lavapiés is known for its multiculturalism, and its bars and nightclubs reflect this. Moroccan and Indian bars, flamenco music, rock and many concert halls.

Of these areas, Chueca stands out, characterized by the numerous offer oriented to the gay public. The massive celebrations of Pride in Madrid and the recognition of the rights of LGBT people in Spain were internationally recognized with the appointment of Madrid as the venue for Europride in 2007 and WorldPride in 2017.

Moncloa is a neighborhood frequented by young people, as it is the "party" area for university students between the ages of 18 and 24. Something similar occurs on Avenida de Brasil, while the Salamanca neighborhood, where people with great purchasing power reside, is the area of discos and pubs focused on a higher class or the best-known characters on the Spanish television scene.

It is worth noting the celebration of large electronic music festivals, especially important are those that are celebrated on January 1 (highlighting Space of Sound) and during the Gay Pride festivities.

Evolution of outstanding debt

The concept of outstanding debt includes only debts with savings banks and banks related to financial credits, fixed-income securities and loans or credits transferred to third parties, excluding, therefore, commercial debt.

Graphic of evolution of the city council's living debt between 2010 and 2021

Living debt of the City of Madrid in thousands of euros according to data of the Ministry of Finance and Public Service.

The outstanding municipal debt per inhabitant in 2014 amounted to &&&&&&&&&&&01876.&10000 €1,876.01.

Services

Education

Rectorate of the Complutense University of Madrid

Education in Madrid depends, in turn, on the Department of Education of the Community of Madrid, which assumes the powers of education at the regional level.

Preschool, primary and secondary education

It is estimated that there are about 167,000 students in early childhood education, 320,800 in primary education, about 4,500 in special education and around 50,000 in vocational training. The total number of non-university students is over one million students, of which some 600,000 study in public centers, a maximum of 260,000 in subsidized private centers and some 150,000 in non-subsidized private centers.

In the twenty-one districts of the city of Madrid there are 520 nurseries (98 public and 422 private), 235 public schools for infant and primary education, 106 secondary education institutes, 309 private schools (with and without concert) and 24 centers foreigners.

University education

E.T.S. of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Madrid

The Community of Madrid is home to six public universities (in addition to the UNED, which is national). Four of them have their auditorium or one of their faculties or schools in the city of Madrid:

• Complutense University of Madrid (with its paraninfo and most of its schools and faculties in the University City of Madrid).
• Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (with its main campus in Cantoblanco and its Faculty of Medicine in La Paz).
• Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (with its paraninfo and some schools in the University City of Madrid and other schools in the South Campus in Vallecas, the Montegancedo Campus, and the Centro Campus, with schools located in the center of Madrid—ETSI Mines, ETSI Industriales, EUIT Public Works, EUIT Industriales).
• Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (with three campuses on the outskirts of Madrid, in Leganés, Getafe and Colmenarejo. It also has a postgraduate center in Puerta de Toledo).
• Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (which, while developing most of its activity in Móstoles, Alcorcón and Fuenlabrada, also has faculties in the district of Vicálvaro and with the headquarters of the Fundación Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Manuel Becerra).
• The University of Alcalá has a headquarters in Madrid, on Eloy Gonzalo Street, with postgraduate courses.

In addition to the public universities, there are fourteen private universities in the Community of Madrid:

It also has campuses of various foreign universities, such as Saint Louis University, Suffolk University or the University of San Diego.

Furthermore, Madrid is the headquarters of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), the National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) and the National Library with its collection of historical archives.

It is home to the following National Academies:

In the Moncloa-Aravaca district is the Ciudad Universitaria de Madrid, a neighborhood in which most of the faculties and higher schools of the Complutense, Polytechnic and UNED universities are concentrated, as well as some CSIC centers. In its center is also located the Palacio de la Moncloa, seat of the Presidency of the Government.

Transportation

Highways

Map of the Community of Madrid pointing out the areas of urban transport in Madrid by municipalities

The main highways of Madrid have a radial route. The most important are the heiresses of the previous radiales (numbered with Roman numerals: N-I, N-II, etc.).

Other highways that originate in Madrid and are of great importance due to the density of their traffic are the A-42 that connects Madrid with Toledo and the M-607, a regionally owned highway that connects Madrid with the port of Navacerrada, serving the towns of Colmenar Viejo and Tres Cantos.

Madrid also has a series of ring roads:

• the M-30, of municipal ownership, which delimits the central almond of the city and goes entirely through the municipality of Madrid;
• the M-40, of state ownership, which surrounds in the residential neighborhoods of the city. Except in its western section, it runs through the municipality of Madrid;
• the M-45, of autonomic ownership, bordering the municipality in the south and the southeast and almost entirely runs through the municipality of Madrid;
• the M-50, of state ownership, which barely touches the municipality of Madrid in the southeast, at the height of the district of Vallecas.

The city of Madrid has an anti-pollution protocol with 4 possible phases, depending on the levels of nitrogen dioxide, which restrict circulation through the central almond. Specifically, phase 3 was activated for the first time on December 29, 2016.

Subway

Madrid Metro Scheme

Prince Pio Station

The Madrid Metro was inaugurated on October 17, 1919 by King Alfonso XIII and its thirteen lines have a total length of 294 kilometers. It is the third in Europe by kilometres, after those of London and Moscow, and the ninth in the world. During 2019, 677.4 million trips were recorded.

The Madrid Metro network has a total length of 294 km and 302 stations. It is made up of 12 conventional lines, the branch linking Ópera and Príncipe Pío and three light rail lines (similar to a tram) that total 27.78 km and have 38 stations.

Of the 302 current stations (2019), 201 are simple, in 27 they transfer two lines, in 10 three lines stop and the Avenida de América station, which serves as a transfer to four lines. At 21 stops there is a connection with the Renfe Madrid Cercanías network.

Railway

Atocha Gate Station with Renfe 112 Series AVE Trains

Map of the vicinity of Madrid

The public railway company (Renfe) operates almost all Spanish train lines. The most important railway stations in Madrid are those of Atocha (officially Puerta de Atocha), Chamartín and, for the transport of goods, the stations of Abroñigal and Vicálvaro-Clasificación, to the east of the city.

Train lines depart from the Atocha and Chamartín stations to all the Spanish provincial capitals. The train, suburban and metro networks are connected to the Atocha, Chamartín, Príncipe Pío and Nuevos Ministerios interchanges.

There is also a network of high-speed trains, currently growing, that depart from Madrid. The lines that currently operate are:

• Madrid – Ciudad Real – Puertollano – Córdoba. Ramales to Seville and Malaga.
• Madrid – Guadalajara – Calatayud – Zaragoza – Lérida – Tarragona – Barcelona - Gerona - French border. Ramal to Huesca from Zaragoza.
• Madrid – Toledo.
• Madrid – Segovia – Medina del Campo – Zamora – Orense.
• Madrid – Segovia – Valladolid – Palencia – León.
• Madrid – Cuenca – Valencia – Castellón.
• Madrid – Cuenca – Albacete – Villena – Alicante.
• Madrid – Barcelona - Montpellier - Avignon - Marseille.
• Madrid - Cuenca - Albacete - Villena - Elche - Orihuela - Murcia.

And the following lines are running:

• Madrid – Talavera de la Reina – Plasencia – Cáceres – Mérida – Badajoz

Buses

There is a network of urban buses managed, like the rest of the public transport network, by the Madrid Transport Consortium and the Madrid Municipal Transport Company, which has 1,900 vehicles and 207 lines. Many inhabitants from the peripheral neighborhoods of the capital, the same autonomy and bordering provinces use the services of the suburban railway and intercity buses to reach the capital and then use the metro. For this reason, the bus network is also interconnected with the railways. The main interchanges are those of Avenida de América, Méndez Álvaro and Plaza de Castilla, although there are other smaller ones such as those of Moncloa, Príncipe Pío and Plaza Elíptica.

Air transportation

Terminal 4 of Barajas

Madrid's main airport is Adolfo Suárez, Madrid-Barajas Airport (IATA: MAD, ICAO: LEMD), located in the northeast of the city, 12 km from the center. It began its service in 1928, although it was It was officially inaugurated in 1931 and is currently managed by Spanish Airports and AENA Air Navigation. It is also the main airport in Spain for passenger traffic.

In 2019 the airport handled 61.7 million passengers, with a growth of 6.6% compared to the previous one. It ranked number 13 worldwide and fifth in Europe by number of passengers carried. In 2007, passenger traffic rose to 52,122,702, making Barajas the tenth largest in the world in terms of passenger volume and fourth in Europe, surpassing Amsterdam-Schiphol, which until now held that position among European airports.

The airport is connected to the city by Metro line 8, the Renfe Cercanías network, numerous buses and taxis.

The city also has a second-category airport, Cuatro Vientos, for military use and a flight school. The latter was the first to be built in Spain.

Madrid Night Panoramic from Paracuellos de Jarama, with the airport Adolfo Suárez, Madrid-Barajas in the center

Energy

The City Council has published the Energy Balance of the Municipality of Madrid, which concludes, among other things, the decrease in energy dependence and the significant increase in energy generation from renewable sources between 2003 and 2006.

Culture

Cultural events

In the Student Residence, created by the Free Institution of Teaching, some of the highest exponents of the Silver Age of the Spanish culture coincided

At the end of May and beginning of June, the Madrid Book Fair is held every year in the Retiro gardens, which began in the days of the Second Republic, in 1933. It has also been held every year since 1977 On the Paseo de Recoletos, between the end of April and the beginning of May, the Madrid Antique and Second-hand Book Fair, organized by the Madrid Lance Booksellers Association.

In literature, music and film

Cover The Quixote (1605), printed on Atocha Street by Juan de la Cuesta. The editorial activity of Madrid has been very remarkable since the installation of the Court

Although there are many references to Madrid in medieval literature, and there are even famous people from Madrid in it, such as Ruy González de Clavijo, it is from the literature of the Golden Age when references to Madrid are abundant, either for being the setting of literary works or appear in their titles (El acero de Madrid or Las Ferias de Madrid, by Lope de Vega or for referring specifically to the town, its customs and inhabitants, among whom were Cervantes themselves, Lope de Vega (himself a native of Madrid), Quevedo, Góngora (tenant and mortal enemy of the former, who had the pleasure of evicting him), and Tirso de Molina. The streets between Atocha and Carrera de San Jerónimo concentrate most of the places of life and burial of these geniuses, including the place where Don Quixote was printed, and are known as Barrio de las Letras or Barrio de Las Musas (not to be confused with the homonymous one located in San Blas-Canillejas) Two corrals of comedies (the Corral del Príncipe, precedent of the Spanish Theatre, and that of the Caños del Peral, precedent of the Opera House) divided up the popular audience, rivaling Tirso de Molina or Calderón de la Barca (both from Madrid) in premiering.. The 18th century meant a decline in the quality of literature, including stage literature, although the Madrid public delighted in farces by Ramón de la Cruz, with a traditional atmosphere (one of whom coined the term Manolo), or the more intellectual productions by the Moratín family (father and son).

Manzanares, of good taste, are, though poor, your waters, because by getting to Madrid, of the Sierra they untie...

Tirso de Molina, in Don Gil of the green stockings.

Madrid, famous castle
That the moro king relieves fear...

Nicolás Fernández de Moratín, Bullfighting party in Madridin chins.

The musical scene had more brilliance, in that apart from the nationals, foreign figures such as the castrato Farinelli and the composer Luigi Boccherini, who came to identify enough with the city to produce the famous Ritirata Notturna di Madrid . Also noteworthy is the presence of Domenico Scarlatti, who lived and composed some of his most famous works in Madrid, where he died in 1757.

Madrid romanticism of the 19th century has its main exponent in Madrid's Mariano José de Larra. His suicide and burial (with the epitaph reading by José Zorrilla included) can only be understood in the context and environment that perfectly reflects the Romantic Museum. With authors such as Francisco Asenjo Barbieri, Federico Chueca and Tomás Bretón, an autochthonous musical dramatic genre developed, with a popular and costumbrista atmosphere: the zarzuela, of which Madrid is the world capital, in which the programming of the Teatro de la Zarzuela or of the Apollo Theatre. Madrid's costumbrista environment also produced highly popular comedies, such as those by Carlos Arniches from Alicante, which, rather than reflecting popular speech, exaggerated it to a parodic point that, curiously, ended up being imitated by real speakers.

Café de Fornos, historic stage of literary tertulia

At the end of the century, the Canarian Benito Pérez Galdós reflected in his National Episodes many events that occurred in Madrid, and in other novels he captured the atmosphere of the different social classes (Fortunata and Jacinta, Meow, Mercy). It is the moment (1896) when Alexandre Promio, a cameraman from the Lumière company, arrives in Madrid and takes the first films, in which the Puerta del Sol appears. At the beginning of the century XX, it is possibly the grotesque of Valle Inclán (Luces de bohemia, a nocturnal journey of a blind poet through a sordid Madrid) that best reflects the village reality. In a famous passage, the distorting mirrors of the Callejón del Gato are cited as the inspiration for that vision, which has also been compared to the aesthetics of the painter José Gutiérrez Solana or that of Ramón Gómez de la Serna (as famous for his work as for his juicy gathering at Café Pombo).

Pombo (1918) by Ramón Gómez de la Serna

A literary contrast would be the realistic vision of Pío Baroja in his trilogy The Struggle for Life (The Tree of Knowledge, Bad Grass, Red Dawn) or the by Arturo Barea (The Forge of a Rebel). The generation of 1927 had one of its meeting places in the Student Residence, where Federico García Lorca, Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel were able to come into contact. It is not an exaggeration to speak of the Silver Age. But a little later, the poets that "whoever won it" lost the war, were on both fronts, "geographically" suffering the repression of the Republican side in Madrid against writers such as Enrique Jardiel Poncela or Pedro Muñoz Seca and Ramiro de Maeztu (who were shot); and sing the resistance of the «Breakwater of the fifty Spanish provinces» to Antonio Machado:

Madrid, Madrid; how well your name sounds,
breakers from all Spain!
The earth tears, the thunder sky,
You smile with lead in your guts.

The "victory" led to exile (internal or external) a good part of the survivors. Vicente Aleixandre or Gerardo Diego stayed in Madrid, according to him, in a city of "a little more than a million corpses". On the winning side they did not see things much happier, as demonstrated by La colmena by Camilo José Cela or the film Surcos, by José Antonio Nieves Conde, which denounced from an ideology falangist the corruption that the city exerted on a family of peasant emigrants. The generation of the fifties insisted on gloomy overtones (The fantastic taberna by Alfonso Sastre, set in the Abroñigal stream, today M-30; El Jarama by Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio, which narrates the passage of time of some young people from Madrid who go to cool off on the banks of that river; or Time of silence by Luis Martín-Santos, which covers the whole of Madrid, from the Superior Research Center Scientific, the Athenaeum and aristocratic mansions to brothels, popular festivals and shacks).

The Carrion building is the scene of the film The Day of the Beast

The cinematography that portrayed the Madrid of the time had highly consumed evasion products, which propagated traditional values with more or less sweetened overtones, as in the films of Rafael J. Salvia (Manolo, urban guard; The Red Cross Girls, The Big Family, is co-directed by Fernando Palacios). Another of greater aesthetic height and social commitment masked in black humor can be seen in Luis García Berlanga (A happy couple, El verdugo), Edgar Neville (Domingo de Carnival and The Last Horse) or Marco Ferreri (El pisito and El cochecito). The Madrid scene, at the same time that it reflects the last period of the infimo genre (the cuplé and the musical revue, closely subjected to censorship), represents the pessimistic works of Antonio Buero Vallejo, from Historia de una escalera (1949) and others set in Madrid (La detonación, in the time of Larra, A dreamer for a town, in the of Esquilache).

The color gray possibly did not leave the artistic environment until the outbreak of the Madrid movement between the late seventies and early eighties. The films of Pedro Almodóvar and the so-called new Madrid comedy (Fernando Colomo) reflect a Madrid that definitely surpassed that of Juan Antonio Bardem's Death of a Cyclist twenty years earlier. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the death throes of the movement gave way to widespread urban degradation, due to the heroin boom, which was felt in Chueca (today a neighborhood with an open gay presence), Villaverde, San Blas or Vallecas and adjacent marginal towns. Something of all this transcends in the song "Let's say I'm talking about Madrid" by Joaquín Sabina or in the films The Day of the Beast (1995) and humorously, Torrente (1998), where the concept of dandruff —a very Madrid word that designates something in decadence and rancid, be it mentality, fashion or environment— acquires full meaning. The entire history of the city is reflected in one minute in Look at her!, the Puerta de Alcalá sung by Víctor Manuel and Ana Belén.

Museums

The Museo del Prado is home to one of the world's most remarkable art collections, especially European Renaissance and Baroque paintings

Madrid has important museums, among which the art galleries stand out, which constitute one of the main tourist attractions of the city. The so-called Triangle of Art concentrates three reference centers close to each other: the Prado Museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, and the Reina Sofía Museum:

• The Museo del Prado is one of the most important museums in the world, mainly dedicated to painting. It is said that it is not the most complete pinacoteca, but it is the richest for the accumulation of masterpieces. His collection focuses on painting before the centuryXX., especially Spanish, Italian and Flemish. Some of the masterpieces he exhibits are: The gentleman of the hand in the chest of the Greco; The Meninas, Breda surrender, The Dutch, Vulcan's umbrella and The triumph of BacoVelázquez; The naked maja, The maja dressed, The family of Carlos IV, The burden of the Mamluks, The shootings in the Moncloa, Black paints of Goya; All three, thank you., The Judgment of Paris, The worship of the magicians of Rubens; the Authorport, the Adam and Eveof Durer; the Descent of Rogier van der Weyden; The garden of delights, The hay car, The Table of Capital Sins, Extraction of the Stone of Madnessof El Bosco; Carlos V in Mühlberg, The bath of the Andrians, Offer to Venus, Danae receiving the golden rainof Titian; The family of Felipe V by Louis-Michel van Loo; works by Hyacinthe Rigaud, Watteau, Boucher, Poussin, Georges de La Tour Claudio de Lorena; Rafael or El Lavatorio de Tintoretto. In addition to the pictorial chapter, it has a remarkable collection of sculpture, with grecorromean, Renaissance and other periods, as well as collections of drawings, prints and decorative arts.

Facade of the Reina Sofia Museum, in which one of the outdoor lifts is appreciated that give it its characteristic appearance

• The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is the national museum of contemporary art. Its funds cover the art of the late centuries XIX, XX. and XXIwith special accent on Spanish artists. Thus, it has important collections of Pablo Picasso (with the Guernica, one of his masterpieces), Salvador Dalí, Juan Gris and Joan Miró. Other artists represented include Julio González, Yves Klein, Lucio Fontana, Eduardo Chillida, Pablo Palazuelo, Pablo Serrano, Jean Arp, René Magritte, Antoni Tàpies, Francis Bacon, Pablo Gargallo, Alexander Calder, Mark Rothko or José Gutiérrez-Solana, for citing a few. It also hosts a library of free access specialized in art, whose funds amount to more than 100,000 books, 3500 sound recordings and about 1000 videos.

One of the rooms of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

• The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum represents one of the largest private collections of art in the world, mostly acquired by the Spanish State. Its collections show a panoramic view of the history of art, chronologically ordered, so that the visit in the Renaissance begins and ends in the centuryXX.. On the second floor is a tour of the final Gothic cycle and the Renaissance to the Baroque, passing through the Quattrocento Italian; with authors of the German and Flemish school, such as Jan van Eyck, Alberto Durero and Hans Holbein, and a gallery dedicated to Tiziano, Tintoretto, Bassano, Greco, Bernini and Caravaggio, among others. On the first floor is shown the collection of Dutch painting, from Frans Hals to Max Beckmann; with samples of realism, rococó, neoclassicism, Romanticism and impressionist movements. The ground floor gathers works of the centuryXX.from Cubism and the first avant-garde, to pop art. Some contemporary masterpieces by Picasso, Piet Mondrian, Marc Chagall or Edward Hopper stand out. It should be noted that this museum is the only one in Spain to present a coherent panorama of pictorial currents such as Impressionism, German Expressionism or European Romantic Painting, as well as exhibiting works of authors who are completely absent in other state collections such as Jan van Eyck, Frans Hals, Piero della Francesca, Vincent van Gogh or Friedrich.

Other important museums in Madrid are:

Roman Mosaics at the National Archaeological Museum

• The National Archaeological Museum shows archaeological findings from Prehistory to the CenturyXIXespecially the Iberian peninsula, distributed on three floors. Some of her most representative works are the Lady of Elche, the Lady of Baza, the Great Lady of the Cerro de los Santos, the Lady of Ibiza, the Bicha de Balazote, the Treasure of Guarrazar, the Bote de Zamora, the tomb of Pozo Moro or a Neperian abacus. Its collections of Roman mosaics, of Greek ceramics, Islamic art and Romanesque art are very important. In addition, the museum has a reproduction of the roof of the polychromes of the Altamira cave in an underground room under the outside garden.
• The Museum of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando contains a large permanent collection of works, especially Spanish, Italian and Flemish art of the centuries XVIII and XIX. Some authors are Murillo, Ribera, Zurbarán, Goya, who was also a member of the Academy, Vicente López, José de Madrazo, Federico de Madrazo, Sorolla, and among foreigners Giovanni Bellini, Arcimboldo (Arcimboldo).The Spring is the only work of yours in Spain), Correggio, Rubens and Mengs. He also has modern works of authors, such as Juan Gris and Picasso.
• The Museum of America holds vast collections covering both pre-Columbian America and colonial art and ethnography.
• The Sorolla Museum is located in the building where the artist had his house and workshop. His origin is in the testamentary legacy that his widow, Doña Clotilde García del Castillo, did in favor of the Spanish State, in which both the property and numerous works were included. In addition to being the largest collection preserved from Sorolla's work (mainly paintings and drawings), it also keeps other paintings that Sorolla had painted by his friends. On the other hand, his private collection also included pieces of sculpture, ceramics, archaeology (which he was very fond of), jewelry (ethnographic) and photography. The Museum also preserves the archive of the painter's correspondence.
• The Galdiano Lazarus Museum was donated to the State by José Lázaro Galdiano. It has all kinds of objects and instruments of handicrafts and historical goldsmithy, as well as collections of painting, sculpture and drawing, with works of authors such as Velázquez, El Bosco, Murillo and, above all, Goya.
• The National Museum of Decorative Arts exhibits 40 000 pieces covering furniture, ceramics (Manises, Talavera de la Reina, Buen Retiro, Sèvres), glass (old, La Granja, Lalique), textiles, carpets and an important background of oriental works (Chinese porcelains, Japanese xilographies—ukiyo-e—, costumes, bronze rolls, musical instruments and bronze).
• The National Museum of Natural Sciences has more than 6 million specimens, and offers exhibitions dedicated to the dissemination of natural sciences: biology (evolution, ecology), geology (rocas, minerals) and paleontology (fossils). Historic specimens, such as a megaterio (taken to Madrid from Argentina in 1789), the diplodoco (a dinosaur replica given by the American millionaire Carnegie to King Alfonso XIII), a rarísimo tilacino dissected, or the magnificent dioramas of birds and mammals prepared by the Benedito brothers, taxidermistas of the Museum during the first decades of the centuryXX..
• The Cerralbo Museum contains funds that include works of the Greco, Tintoretto and Zurbarán, apart from an important collection of armor, porcelain and numismatic, in a century palaceXIX.
• The Monastery of the Royal Rests has a museum with an important collection of paintings, sculptures, tapestries and herreria donated to the order during the reign of Carlos I and Felipe II. It contains works by Titian, Rubens and Zurbarán, in addition to the tomb of the Empress Mary of Austria, the work of Crescenci, and sculptures by John of Mena.
• The National Museum of Anthropology is dedicated to offering a global vision of the different cultures existing on the planet with objects from various parts of the world, but above all focused on Spain and its former colonies of the Philippines and Equatorial Guinea. Among its pieces are the guanche mummy of Tenerife, the skeleton of the Gigante Extremeño and reduced human heads of Ecuador.
• The Museum of History of Madrid, formerly called the Municipal Museum, hosts pieces related to the history of the city in an important Baroque building by architect Pedro de Ribera.
• The Museo de Cera de Madrid, located in front of Plaza de Colón, houses more than four hundred wax figures, showing the history of Spain through different scenarios. It also features contemporary figures such as Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Iniesta, Antonio Banderas and Woody Allen, among others.
• The Railway Museum, located in the building that was formerly the Delicias station, treasures a collection of locomotives and wagons that have been part of the history of the Renfe and the companies that preceded it. It is organized by tractions: steam, diesel and electric; there is also a space dedicated to modeling, fixed material and the Talgo Room.
  • 

    La Neomudéjar Museum
    The Neomudéjar Museum. is the Art Centre of Vanguardia, a place of experimentation and creativity that is committed to rescueing spaces in disuse. Bet to give voice to the New Media Arts and focuses on promoting disciplines such as Art Brute, Urban Art, Videoart, Performance, Parkour, Sonic Art and bringing them to the general public.

Other museums in the capital are the Costume Museum, the National Museum of Romanticism, the Public Art Museum (formerly the Castellana Outdoor Sculpture Museum), the Origins Museum (formerly the San Isidro Museum), the Geomining Museum, the Naval Museum, the ONCE Typhlological Museum, the Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions of the Autonomous University of Madrid or the Museum of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Air Museum) of Cuatro Vientos.

Gastronomy

The squid sandwich is typical of Madrid’s gastronomy

The traditional gastronomy of Madrid is included within Spanish cuisine in general, and Castilian gastronomy in particular, of which it preserves in some dishes and preparations the culinary characteristics inherited from the times of the installation of the court of Felipe II in the villa. Some of the most characteristic elaborations are the Madrid stew, Madrid-style tripe, garlic soup, offal in general and desserts such as silly and ready donuts, saint's bones or Madrid French toast. Madrid's cuisine has always been greatly influenced by its characteristics as a city of alluvium, gathering Andalusian, La Mancha, Extremaduran and other Spanish regions culinary customs and uses, especially between the years between 1950 and 1970.

Call the Madrid

Frequently, the typical aroma of Madrid cuisine is impregnated with the properties of frying in vegetable oil (olive, sunflower and others) as seen in the popular dishes served in bars, restaurants and other establishments in the city: the churros, the potato omelette, or the typical calamari sandwiches served around the Plaza Mayor, as well as other tapas or classic portions such as patatas bravas and fried eggs. Among the most representative classics are the entresijos and gallinejas, a dish that is prepared by frying lamb intestines in their own fat, which are served churruscados and accompanied by fried potatoes also in this fat, composing one of the most representative images of the verbenas.

Since the 1980s and with the change in consumption habits, multinational fast food establishments have proliferated as well as "ethnic" food, such as pizza or the kebabs.

The rise of immigration at the end of the XX century contributed to the introduction of gastronomy representative of the different cultural groups who have settled in the city. This is how some have developed, such as Chinese, Ecuadorian and Romanian gastronomy, and there are even markets specialized in foreign cuisines in Madrid, such as the Mostenses market.

The San Miguel market has become an emblematic place that must be visited in Madrid as it is the pioneer of a new gastronomic concept focused on gourmet products where you can buy and at the same time taste products and elaborations.

Local festivals

Opening of the fiestas of San Isidro (half of May)

Pride Festivals in 2013

Some of its most popular festivities and festivals are:

• 17 January the first correspond to the celebration of San Antonio Abad in the vicinity of the church of San Antón.
• March and April, Holy Week. The penitential brothers organize processions in which they carry artistic steps along the center and the neighborhoods of Madrid.
• On May 1 the already extinct feast of Santiago el Verde in the sotillos of the River Manzanares. This popular celebration in the centuryXVII, started to stop celebrating in the first third of XVIII.
• First Sunday of May, the Mayas are celebrated.
• 15 May, Romería de San Isidro Labrador, a patron saint of Madrid, celebrated in the meadow of San Isidro, next to his hermitage, in Carabanchel (local festival).
• On Thursday following the eighth of Pentecost (June) the Corpus Christi is celebrated in Madrid
• On June 13th, in the hermitage of San Antonio de la Florida is celebrated the verb of San Antonio.
• First weekend of July. Madrid Pride Festivals in Chueca.
• On July 16, Day of Our Lady of Carmen, patron of the districts of Puente de Vallecas and Chamberí, celebrate the festivals of Carmen.
• On the 7th of August, the fiestas of San Cayetano in honor of San Cayetano, patron of the neighborhood of Cascorro.
• On August 10th, the fiestas of San Lorenzo in honor of San Lorenzo, patron of the neighborhood of Lavapiés.
• On the 15th of August, the festivals of the Paloma in honor of the Virgin of the Paloma, patron of the districts Centro and Arganzuela. Just like the firefighters in Madrid.
• On September 8, the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary is celebrated the feast of the Virgin of the Port (popularly called Feast of the Melonera) in the district of Arganzuela, as well as that of Santa María la Blanca, patron of Canillejas.
• On 9 September, Feasts of Santa Maria de la Cabeza, wife of San Isidro Labrador (local festival when San Isidro or Nuestra Señora de la Almudena falls on Sunday).
• On 29 September, San Miguel Arcángel fiestas, patron of the former municipality of Chamartín de la Rosa, and the current district of Chamartín, which are held in the park of Berlin.
• On October 12, Virgen del Pilar, patron of the neighborhood of Salamanca and the neighborhood of Pilar.
• On 9 November, Feasts of Virgen de la Almudena, patron of Madrid and its archdiocese (local festival).
• On 15 November, former Romería de San Eugenio, held at Mount El Pardo in honor of San Eugenio when the territory of Madrid belonged to the Archdiocese of Toledo, but that it was abandoned towards the end of the centuryXIXwhen Madrid was separated and obtained its own bishop.

Sports

Derbi madrileño between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid held in 2010 in Santiago Bernabéu

Among the athletes born in Madrid, the tennis player Manuel Santana, the skiers Francisco and Blanca Fernández Ochoa, the rally driver Carlos Sainz, the soccer players Luis Aragonés (technically he was born in a municipality today a district), Emilio Butragueño, Iker Casillas, Raúl González, Dani Carvajal, Nacho Fernández, Gabi Fernández, Mario Hermoso, Álvaro Morata or Koke among others, the water polo players Jesús Rollán and Pedro García Aguado, the gymnast Estela Giménez or the soccer player Soni.

The most followed sport in the city of Madrid is soccer, represented in the First Division of the Professional Soccer League by Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, which plays at home at the Santiago Bernabéu, Club Atlético de Madrid, whose stadium is the Metropolitano and Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, playing their home games at the Vallecas Stadium, a venue owned by the Community of Madrid.

Vallecano Ray meeting as local

In Second Division B, the Agrupación Deportiva Unión Adarve and Internacional de Madrid and the subsidiaries Real Madrid Castilla and Atlético de Madrid "B" play, and in a lower category the CD Colonia Moscardó (which, as the previous two, he came to play in Second). Other clubs from what is now the city, already disappeared (such as Español, Racing, the Real Sociedad Gimnástica Española or El Nacional), or currently relegated to lower categories (such as Real Club Deportivo Carabanchel, today the third oldest club in the city and the 13th in Spain), were key to the development of the beautiful game in Spain at the beginning of the XX century . In fact, Madrid was one of the first places where soccer was introduced in Spain, with the constitution in 1879 of the Cricket and Foot-ball Club.

Madrid Atletico Player in 2018

Moving on to women's football, two teams from the city have been champions of the Iberdrola League and the Copa de la Reina: Club Atlético de Madrid (current league champion, which plays its most important matches in the municipal area, in the stadium of the men's first team) and Rayo Vallecano de Madrid (which plays at the Ciudad Deportiva Fundación Rayo Vallecano). In recent times, Madrid CFF has joined the highest national category, a team that traditionally played at home in the capital (Luis Aragonés Sports Center), but which moved its stadium to another municipality in the Community when it rose in category.

On the other hand, futsal deserves a special mention, since Inter FS, the most successful club in the world in this discipline, was founded in the city and played its matches there from 1977 to 1991 (Antonio Magariños pavilion, where he played for the Atlético de Madrid handball team), until he moved to other municipalities in the Community.

ACB Student League Meeting held at the Sports Palace

Basketball is also very popular. The two most representative teams in the city, both in the ACB League, are Real Madrid and Club Estudiantes de Baloncesto.

Stage of 2013 from La Vuelta to Spain, which has conventionally to Madrid as a term, with the cyclists traveling the Gran Vía

Just like the Tour de France, the Vuelta ciclista a España traditionally ends in Madrid. In addition, Madrid hosted the 2005 Road Cycling World Championships in which the Belgian Tom Boonen and the Australian Michael Rogers were victorious in the time trial specialty.

Since 2003, the Madrid Masters 1000 tennis tournament or Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, formerly known as the Madrid Master Series, was held in the Madrid Arena pavilion. It is the only one, together with the one in Paris, that is played on a covered court. In May 2009 it became a clay court tournament, thus changing the pavilion. The Caja Mágica is the venue where it has been held since 2009. It has a capacity of about 10,000 spectators and was one of the fundamental assets in Madrid's candidacy for the 2016 Olympic Games.

Since 2013, one of the most prestigious Horse Riding competitions in the world, the CSI 5* Grand Prix: Longines Global Champions Tour and the team competition the Global Champions League. In 2018, the Madrid in Motion team (Eduardo Álvarez Aznar, Maikel Van Der Vleuten, Marc Houtzager) won the Grand Final of the GCL Supercup in Prague with a record prize of €6.4 million).

San Silvestre Vallecana is held every 31 December

In athletics, the most important competitions are the so-called San Silvestre Vallecana, a multitudinous long-distance race that is held every December 31, and the Madrid Popular Marathon (MAPOMA) that is held annually in spring.

Masters of Madrid 2010

Plaza de Toros de las Ventas, opened in 1931

Madrid is home to the largest bullring in Spain and the third largest in the world: Las Ventas. It is the last of a series of squares that since the XVIII century have been «displacing», getting further and further away from the center of Madrid by the street of Alcalá. The first festivities were held in the Plaza Mayor, as were the autos de fe of the Inquisition, solemn religious ceremonies, coronations and other acts. The first built ex profeso, from 1749, was next to the Puerta de Alcalá and the granary building. The second, at the crossroads with Calle de Goya, next to the current square and monument to Dalí, in the space now occupied by the Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid.

There is an enclosure used as a smaller bullfighting arena (suitable for 14,000 spectators, currently covered and air-conditioned), the Plaza, Palacio or Integrated Center of Vistalegre (not to be confused with the homonymous one in Bilbao), inaugurated in 2000 by Curro Romero in the Carabanchel-Vista Alegre neighborhood. It had a precedent in the area, the square known as "La Chata", built in 1908 and demolished in 1995, long owned by Luis Miguel Dominguín. In the Casa de Campo is the Venta del Batán, where traditionally they are exposed the bulls that are fought at the San Isidro Fair, and that hosts the School of Bullfighting. Every year, in addition to those of the Fair (which is held around May 15, the festival of the patron saint of Madrid), the Corrida de la Beneficencia and the Corrida de la Prensa are especially significant. The bullfighting atmosphere of Madrid is projected outside the bullring, especially in bars with a bullfighting atmosphere, such as the Antonio Sánchez tavern (a bullfighter who opened it in 1830) on Mesón de Paredes street, or many others in the vicinity of the Puerta of the sun.

Failed Olympic bids

1972 Olympic Games bid – The history of Madrid's bid to organize the Olympic Games goes back to December 29, 1965, when a joint bid with Barcelona to host the twentieth edition of the 1972 Games was presented to the International Olympic Committee. The Spanish candidacy was, however, ruled out at the IOC session held in Rome on April 26, 1966 after the election in Munich.

Madrid Arena Pavilion

2012 Olympic Games candidacy – Madrid was a candidate to hold the Olympic Games of the XXX Modern Era Olympics in 2012. This candidacy was promoted during the term of mayor José María Álvarez del Manzano and continued by his successor, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon. The logo of the candidacy was designed by Javier Mariscal. York and Moscow. On July 6, 2005, the IOC announced the result of the election of the city that will host the 2012 Olympic Games, the chosen one was London, leaving the city of Madrid in third place; later an IOC member declared to the press that he was wrong to mark his vote, so that Madrid was eliminated in the penultimate vote. However, during the selection process for the 2012 Olympic Games, there was a social movement minority opposition to the candidacy, which they accused of favoring real estate speculation and increasing the already high indebtedness of the city.

2016 Olympic Games bid – The Spanish Olympic Committee renewed on May 30, 2007 the city's Olympic bid for the 2016 Olympic Games. On June 4, 2008, Madrid was shortlisted as one of the candidates for the organization of the 2016 Olympic Games, along with Chicago, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro. The project that it presented was based on that of the previous candidacy with improvements, which allowed it to be the second city with the best evaluation, slightly behind Tokyo. Finally, on October 2, 2009, the city of Rio de Janeiro was chosen, despite having initially had a lower overall technical rating than the other three cities.

2020 Olympic Games bid – Madrid once again submitted a bid to host the 2020 Olympics. Madrid, Istanbul and Tokyo participated in the final vote on September 7, 2013. In the first ballot, Madrid and Istanbul obtained the same votes after Tokyo. In the tiebreaker vote, Madrid was eliminated. In the final vote Tokyo won by a big difference.

Honorary distinctions granted by the City Council

The official titles, honors and decorations granted by the Madrid City Council, in order to reward special merits, designated benefits or extraordinary services, are the following: title of Favorite Son or Adoptive Son of Madrid, Medal of Madrid Honor and Madrid Medal in its three categories of Gold, Silver and Bronze.

The first and highest distinctions granted by the Madrid City Council are those of Favorite Son, for outstanding citizens born in Madrid (José Ortega y Gasset or Plácido Domingo among others) and Adoptive Son, for outstanding people not born in Madrid, (Juan Carlos I, Adolfo Suárez, Josep Tarradellas, Camilo José Cela, Mario Vargas Llosa or the most recent Rafael Nadal).

Agreements and acts of twinning

The city of Madrid actively participates in the city twinning initiative promoted, among other institutions, by the European Union. Likewise, it has signed a multitude of agreements, protocols, minutes and declarations of cooperation with other cities.

Twinning agreements signed:

Twinning agreements signed in Madrid
Lisbon, Portugal (1979)	Panama City, Panama (1980)	New York, United States (1982)
Malabo, Equatorial Guinea (1982)	Bordeaux, France (1984)	Nuakchot, Mauritania (1986)
Manila, Philippines (2005)	Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (2007)	Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2007)
Miami, FL, United States (2014)	Freetown, Sierra Leone (2021)	Kiev, Ukraine (2022)

Acts of twinning signed:

Signatures signed in Madrid
Rabat, Morocco (1988)
Tripoli, Libya (1988)

Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities

Madrid is a member of the Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities (UCCI), which published a declaration of multiple and solidary twinning in 1982 between the following cities:

Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities of Madrid
Asunción, Paraguay	Lisbon, Portugal	San José, Costa Rica
Bogotá, Colombia	Managua, Nicaragua	San Juan, Puerto Rico
Buenos Aires, Argentina	Nasau, Bahamas	San Salvador, El Salvador
Caracas, Venezuela	Mexico City, Mexico	Santiago, Chile
Guatemala City, Guatemala	Montevideo, Uruguay	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Havana, Cuba	Panama City, Panama	Tegucigalpa, Honduras
La Paz, Bolivia	Quito, Ecuador	Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
	Lima, Peru

Other Madrid agreements

Other agreements with the city of Madrid
Asunción, Paraguay	Lima, Peru	Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates	Lisbon, Portugal	Quito, Ecuador
Beirut, Lebanon	London, United Kingdom	Rabat, Morocco
Berlin, Germany	Seoul, South Korea	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Melbourne, Australia	Malabo, Equatorial Guinea	Rome, Italy
Bogotá, Colombia	Managua, Nicaragua	San José, Costa Rica
Brussels, Belgium	Manila, Philippines	San Juan, Puerto Rico
Budapest, Hungary	Miami, United States	San Salvador, El Salvador
Buenos Aires, Argentina	Montevideo, Uruguay	Santiago, Chile
Bordeaux, France	Moscow, Russia	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Caracas, Venezuela	Nuakchot, Mauritania	Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Guatemala City, Guatemala	New York, United States	Sofia, Bulgaria
Mexico City, Mexico	Tokyo, Japan	Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Havana, Cuba	Panama City, Panama	Tripoli, Libya
La Paz, Bolivia	Paris, France	Warsaw, Poland
Prague, Czech Republic	Beijing, China

Predecessor: Dublin	European Capital of Culture 1992	Successor: Antwerp
Predecessor: Havana	Ibero-American Capital of Culture 1998	Successor: La Paz
Predecessor: Guadalajara	World sport capital 2022-	Successor: