Culture of Madrid. Places to visit - old town, temples, theaters, museums and palaces

The capital of Spain has prepared a lot of pleasant surprises for fans of fascinating excursions. In the city you will find widest selection of historical and architectural sites. Don’t forget to pay attention to the beautiful Royal Palace (Palacio Real), the construction of which was completed in 1734. Until 1931 the palace was the main royal residence. Even nowadays the halls of the palace hold important events and political meetings. A large part of the premises is open to visitors, so tourists can stroll through beautiful rooms and look at this amazing example of luxury.

Art lovers should not forget to visit Museo Lazaro Galdiano, in 37 rooms of which are exhibited collections of priceless sculptures, paintings, folk costumes and weapons. The museum is located in a beautiful mansion of the 19th century, which itself is an object of a great value. Among the famous architectural buildings of Madrid we should definitely distinguish Goya Pantheon (Panteon de Goya). The great artist directly participated in the decoration of the dome of the chapel. There are also frescoes in the church. The frescoes depict the scenes from Goya's stories about St. Anthony. The chapel is the tomb of the world famous painter.

Parque del Retiro is simply the best place for hiking and outdoor recreation. The park is located in the heart of the city and covers an area of 140 hectares. Several centuries ago Philip IV liked having rest in this beautiful garden. It is also worth making a walk in the picturesque quarter named La Morera. This is the place where first settlers of the city built their homes. Until the 11th century a large Arab fortress was located on the site of the quarter. Even nowadays tourists will see numerous historical monuments and buildings there. The most striking sights of this part of the city are Chapel of Obispo and the beautiful San Andreas Church. During a walk through Puerta del Sol Square, you can see numerous interesting monuments and sculptures. "The Bear and the Strawberry Tree" is by far one of the most unusual monuments. This is a statue made of stone with splashes of turquoise, and it looks very impressive. Of course, numerous interesting legends are connected with the statue. According to one version, many years ago a large strawberry grove was located on the site of modern Madrid, and bears were the main inhabitants of it. Copyright www.orangesmile.com

For the fact that Madrid has a lot of attractions, the city is simply referred to as “the Museum under the open sky”. There is one of the symbols of the city, which will be considered simply imprudent to not visit, on arriving in the Spanish capital. We are here referring to the Museo Nacional del Prado, where you will find the collections of paintings by Bosch, Raphael, Rubens, Goya, Velasquez (the last two artists have monuments to their honor right in front of the museum). Another interesting museum in the Spanish capital is called Museo Cerralbo. Here you can become acquainted with the life of the Spanish Marquis of the 19th century. The luxurious interior and a collection of ancient works of art are some kind of treasure of the palace.

A place considered to be very unusual for Madrid can be found by circling the Catedral de Santa María la Real de la Almudena and coming down a bit. Then a view of the Muralla Árabe opens up – a monument reminiscent of Arab rule in the history of Spain. This monument was built in the 9th century, and besides it, there was a fortress too, the ruins of which are left until now. There are other buildings that bring to mind this era in the history of Madrid. We are talking about the Torre de Los Lujanes and Casa de Don Álvaro de Luján. They were built in the 15th century, however, the house managed to be two things – firstly, it was the residence of the kings’ servants and then the telegraph station. In general, the Plaza de la Villa, on which architectural monuments are located, is in itself a tourist attraction.

However, many legends are connected with the Casa de Las Siete Chimeneas, a building constructed in the 16th century in the Renaissance style. The fact is that some people think there is on the roof of the house, a ghost of the former owner, who died under unclear circumstances. Templo de Debod is yet another attention-grabbing building in Madrid. It is a unique piece of Egypt in the Spanish capital. The fact is that the building was donated to the city in the year 1968, in honor of the fact that the country helped Egypt in saving the Abu Simbel temple from flooding.

The Casa Gallardo building is very attractive from an architectural point of view – it is a combination of modernism, baroque and Art Nouveau. The building was constructed at the beginning of the 20th century by the architect Federico Rey. Metropolis is one of the main symbols of the city, whose main feature is the statue of the winged goddess Victoria (it was formerly that of the mythological Phoenix and Ganymede sitting on its wing), at the very top – that is exactly how you can recognize the structure. In all of Spain, bullfighting buildings are a must visit, because they reflect the “spirit” of the country. In the capital of the state, this is certainly not an exception as here you will find a building of this kind which is called Plaza de Toros de las Ventas.