Calle de Alcalá is among the longest streets in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. It starts at the

Puerta del Sol The Puerta del Sol (English: "Gate of the Sun") is a public square in Madrid, one of the best known and busiest places in the city. This is the centre ('' Km 0'') of the radial network of Spanish roads. The square also contains the famous clo ...

and goes on for , to the northeastern outskirts of the city.

Henry David Inglis Henry David Inglis, pseudonym Derwent Conway (1795–1835) was a Scottish travel writer and journalist. Life The only son of a Scottish advocate, Inglis was born in Edinburgh, and was educated for a business career. He spent time travelling abro ...

described it in 1837 as "long, of superb width, and flanked by a splendid range of unequal buildings".

History and landmarks

Calle de Alcalá y Fuente de La Cibeles, 1838

Calle de Alcalá is one of the oldest streets in the city. It was the old road which led to the city of

Alcalá de Henares Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish city in the Community of Madrid. Straddling the Henares River, it is located to the northeast of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated Municipalities ...

(from which it takes the name) and continued to

Aragón Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sout ...

; today, this route is covered by the A-2 motorway. Along this street it is possible to find landmarks such as Banco Bilbao Vizcaya at number 16, the former Alcalá 20 discothèque at number 20, Edificio Metrópolis, the

Unión y el Fénix Español building Unión may refer to: Places * Unión, Paraguay * Unión Municipality, Falcón, Venezuela * Unión, Montevideo, Uruguay * Unión Cantinil, Huehuetenango, Guatemala * Unión, San Luis, Argentina * Unión Department, Córdoba Province, Argentina * Uni ...

at number 23,

Círculo de Bellas Artes The Círculo de Bellas Artes is a private, non-profit, cultural organization that was founded in 1880. Its building, located in Madrid, Spain, was declared ''Bien de Interés Cultural'' in 1981. The CBA is a major multidisciplinary centre with one ...

Plaza de Cibeles The Plaza de Cibeles is a square with a neo-classical complex of marble sculptures with fountains that has become a symbol for the city of Madrid. It sits at the intersection of Calle de Alcalá (running from east to west), Paseo de Recoletos (t ...

Puerta de Alcalá The Puerta de Alcalá is a Neo-classical gate in the Plaza de la Independencia in Madrid, Spain. It was a gate of the former Walls of Philip IV. It stands near the city center and several meters away from the main entrance to the Parque del Bue ...

, the

Spanish Ministry of Education The Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MEFP) is the department of the Government of Spain responsible for proposing and carrying out the government policy on education and vocational training, including all the teachings of the educa ...

, the

Instituto Cervantes Instituto Cervantes (the Cervantes Institute) is a worldwide nonprofit organization created by the government of Spain, Spanish government in 1991. It is named after Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616), the author of ''Don Quixote'' and perhaps the ...

HQ building, the

Bank of Spain The Bank of Spain ( es, link=no, Banco de España) is the central bank of Spain. Established in Madrid in 1782 by Charles III of Spain, Charles III, today the bank is a member of the European System of Central Banks and is also Spain's national ...

building, and

Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas The plaza de toros de Las Ventas, known simply as Las Ventas, is the largest bullfighting ring in Spain, located in the Guindalera quarter of the Salamanca district of Madrid. It was inaugurated on June 17, 1931. Its seating capacity of 23,798, m ...

In popular culture

Por la calle de Alcalá Por or POR may refer to: Por *Por (Thai word) *Por, Armenia, a town * Por, a Spanish preposition * Por, a Portuguese preposition POR * POR (gene), cytochrome P450 reductase * Power-on reset * Program of Record (PoR), a term used in US governme ...

'' was a popular ''

cuplé The cuplé was a popular risqué Spanish theatre song style in the late years of the 19th century. From 1893–1911 the songs were a feature of the "género ínfimo" (lowest type) cabaret theatre sung by solo female singers, or men in drag, and a ...

History and landmarks

In popular culture

Notable buildings

References

External links