Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
. 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
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
(EU), and its
monocentric
The monocentric chromosome is a chromosome that has only one centromere in a chromosome and forms a narrow constriction.
Monocentric centromeres are the most common structure on highly repetitive DNA in plants and animals.
Structure
Monocent ...
metropolitan area is the
third-largest in the EU.
[United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affair]
World Urbanization Prospects (2007 revision)
, (United Nations, 2008), Table A.12. Data for 2007. The municipality covers geographical area.
Madrid lies on the
River Manzanares in the central part of the
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...
. Capital city of both Spain (almost without interruption since 1561) and the surrounding
autonomous community of Madrid
The Community of Madrid (; es, Comunidad de Madrid ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, and of the Central Plateau (''Meseta Central''). Its capital and largest muni ...
(since 1983), it is also the political, economic and cultural centre of the country. The city is situated on an elevated plain about from the closest seaside location. The
climate of Madrid
Madrid and its metropolitan area has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: ''Csa'') which transitions to a cold semi-arid climate (''BSk''). According to the Troll-Paffen climate classification, Madrid has ''warm-temperate subtr ...
features hot summers and cool winters.
The Madrid urban agglomeration has the
second-largest GDP in the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
and its influence in
politics
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...
,
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
,
entertainment
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousa ...
,
environment,
media
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...
,
fashion
Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion i ...
,
science
Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
,
culture
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...
, and the
arts
The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...
all contribute to its status as one of the world's major
global cities.
Due to its
economic output
Output in economics is the "quantity of goods or services produced in a given time period, by a firm, industry, or country", whether consumed or used for further production.
The concept of national output is essential in the field of macroecono ...
, high
standard of living, and market size, Madrid is considered the major financial centre
and the leading economic hub of the Iberian Peninsula and of
Southern Europe
Southern Europe is the southern region of Europe. It is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is essentially marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of Southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Alba ...
.
The metropolitan area hosts major Spanish companies such as
Telefónica
Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...
,
Iberia
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
,
BBVA
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (), better known by its initialism BBVA, is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Bilbao, Spain. It is one of the largest financial institutions in the world, and is present ...
and
FCC
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdictio ...
. It concentrates the bulk of banking operations in the country and it is the Spanish-speaking city generating the largest amount of webpages.
Madrid houses the headquarters of the
UN's
World Tourism Organization
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the United Nations specialized agency entrusted with the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. Its headquarters are in Madrid, Spain. UNWTO is the leading internati ...
(UNWTO), the
Ibero-American General Secretariat
The Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB) is the permanent support body to the Pro-Tempore Secretariat in the preparation of Ibero-American Summits. Founded in 2005 in replacement of the Secretariat of Ibero-American Cooperation, its main task ...
(SEGIB), the
Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), and the
Public Interest Oversight Board
The Public Interest Oversight Board (PIOB) is an international body that oversees the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and seeks to improve the quality and public interest focus of the IFAC standards in the areas of audit, education, ...
(PIOB). It also hosts major international regulators and promoters of the Spanish language: the Standing Committee of the Association of Spanish Language Academies, headquarters of the
Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), the
Instituto Cervantes
Instituto Cervantes (the Cervantes Institute) is a worldwide nonprofit organization created by the Spanish government in 1991. It is named after Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616), the author of ''Don Quixote'' and perhaps the most important figur ...
and the Foundation of Emerging Spanish (
FundéuRAE). Madrid organises fairs such as FITUR,
ARCO,
SIMO TCI
SIMO TCI was a computer expo held every November in Madrid, Spain from 1961 to 2013. Its name stands for ''Salón Internacional de Mobiliario de Oficina / Tecnologías de la Comunicación e Información'' (International Trade Fair of Office Furnit ...
and the
Madrid Fashion Week Backstage at Cibeles Madrid Fashion Week.
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid 2017.
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid, was known as ''Pasarela Cibeles'' until 2008 or Cibeles Madrid Fashion week up until 2012, is the principal platform to promote fa ...
. Madrid is home to two world-famous
football clubs,
Real Madrid and
Atlético Madrid.
While Madrid possesses modern infrastructure, it has preserved the look and feel of many of its historic neighbourhoods and streets. Its landmarks include the
Plaza Mayor, the
Royal Palace of Madrid
The Royal Palace of Madrid ( es, Palacio Real de Madrid) is the official residence of the Spanish royal family at the city of Madrid, although now used only for state ceremonies.
The palace has of floor space and contains 3,418 rooms. It is the ...
; the
Royal Theatre with its restored 1850 Opera House; the
Buen Retiro Park, founded in 1631; the 19th-century
National Library
A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant wo ...
building (founded in 1712) containing some of Spain's historical archives; many national museums, and the
Golden Triangle of Art
The Paseo del Prado is one of the main boulevards in Madrid, Spain. It runs north–south between the Plaza de Cibeles and the Plaza del Emperador Carlos V (also known as Plaza de Atocha), with the Plaza de Cánovas del Castillo (the locati ...
, located along the
Paseo del Prado
The Paseo del Prado is one of the main boulevards in Madrid, Spain. It runs north–south between the Plaza de Cibeles and the Plaza del Emperador Carlos V (also known as Plaza de Atocha), with the Plaza de Cánovas del Castillo (the locati ...
and comprising three art museums:
Prado Museum
The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...
, the
Reina Sofía Museum, a museum of
modern art, and the
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (in Spanish, the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (), named after its founder), or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Prado Museum on one of the city's main boulevards. I ...
, which complements the holdings of the other two museums.
Cibeles Palace and Fountain has become one of the monument symbols of the city. The mayor is
José Luis Martínez-Almeida
José Luis Martínez-Almeida Navasqüés (born 17 April 1975) is a Spanish state lawyer and politician. A member of the People's Party (PP), he has been a member of the Madrid City Council since 2015 and has been Mayor of Madrid since 2019.
...
from the
People's Party.
Etymology
There are various theories regarding the origin of the toponym "Madrid" (all of them with problems when it comes to fully explain the phonetic evolution of the toponym along history), namely:
*A
Celtic origin (Madrid < *''Magetoritum''; with the root "-ritu" meaning "
ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
").
*From the
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
''maǧrà'' (meaning "water stream") or ''majrit'' (مجريط meaning "spring", "fountain"). This Majrit (romanized as Magerit) is the first documented name of the place.
*A
Mozarabic
Mozarabic, also called Andalusi Romance, refers to the medieval Romance varieties spoken in the Iberian Peninsula in territories controlled by the Islamic Emirate of Córdoba and its successors. They were the common tongue for the majority of ...
variant of the Latin ''matrix'', ''matricis'' (also meaning "water stream").
History
The site of modern-day Madrid has been occupied since prehistoric times,
and there are archaeological remains of the
Celtic Carpetani
The Carpetani (Greek: ''Karpetanoi'') were one of the Celtic pre- Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula (the Roman Hispania, modern Spain and Portugal), akin to the Celtiberians, dwelling in the central part of the '' meseta'' - the high centr ...
settlement,
Roman villa
A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions.
Typology and distribution
Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...
s, a
Visigoth
The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kn ...
basilica near the church of Santa María de la Almudena and three Visigoth necropoleis near Casa de Campo, Tetuán and Vicálvaro.
Middle Ages
![Madrid muralla musulmana](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Madrid_muralla_musulmana.jpg)
The first historical document about the existence of an established settlement in Madrid dates from the
Muslim age. At the second half of the 9th century,
Cordobese Emir
Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cer ...
Muhammad I built a fortress on a headland near the river
Manzanares, as one of the many fortresses he ordered to be built on the border between
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label= Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the M ...
and the kingdoms of
León and
Castile, with the objective of protecting
Toledo from the Christian invasions and also as a starting point for Muslim offensives. After the disintegration of the
Caliphate of Córdoba
The Caliphate of Córdoba ( ar, خلافة قرطبة; transliterated ''Khilāfat Qurṭuba''), also known as the Cordoban Caliphate was an Islamic state ruled by the Umayyad dynasty from 929 to 1031. Its territory comprised Iberia and parts o ...
in the early 11th century, Madrid was integrated in the
Taifa of Toledo
The Taifa of Toledo () was an islamic polity ('' taifa'') located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula in the high middle ages. It was ruled by the Dhulnunids, a Hawwara Berber clan. It emerged after 1018 upon the fracturing of the Caliphate of ...
.
In the context of the wider campaign for the conquest of the taifa of Toledo initiated in 1079, Madrid was seized in 1083 by
Alfonso VI of León and Castile
Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsul ...
, who sought to use the town as an offensive outpost against the city of Toledo, in turn conquered in 1085. Following the conquest, Christians occupied the center of the city, while Muslims and Jews were displaced to the suburbs. Madrid, located near
Alcalá (under Muslim control until 1118), remained a borderland for a while, suffering a number of ''
razzias'' during the
Almoravid
The Almoravid dynasty ( ar, المرابطون, translit=Al-Murābiṭūn, lit=those from the ribats) was an imperial Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire in the 11th century that ...
period and its walls were destroyed in 1110. The city was confirmed as ''villa de '' (linked to the Crown) in 1123, during the reign of
Alfonso VII
Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...
. The 1123 Charter of Otorgamiento established the first explicit limits between Madrid and Segovia, namely the Puerto de El Berrueco and the Puerto de Lozoya. Since 1188, Madrid won the right to be a city with representation in the courts of Castile. In 1202,
Alfonso VIII gave Madrid its first charter to regulate the municipal council, which was expanded in 1222 by
Ferdinand III. The government system of the town was changed to a ''
regimiento The regimiento, cabildo de regidores or concejo cerrado ("closed council") was a system of local government established from the 14h century onwards in the Crown of Castile.; ; A feature of the progressive oligarchization of the form of government ...
'' of 12 ''
regidor
A regidor (plural: ''regidores'') is a member of a council of municipalities in Spain and Latin America. Portugal also used to have the same office of ''regedor''.
Mexico
In Mexico, an ayuntamiento (municipal council) is composed of a municipal ...
es'' by
Alfonso XI
Alfonso XI (13 August 131126 March 1350), called the Avenger (''el Justiciero''), was King of Castile and León. He was the son of Ferdinand IV of Castile and his wife Constance of Portugal. Upon his father's death in 1312, several disputes en ...
on 6 January 1346.
Since the mid-13th century and up to the late 14th century, the ''concejo'' of Madrid vied for the control of the Real de Manzanares territory against the ''concejo'' of
Segovia
Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia.
Segovia is in the Inner Plateau ('' Meseta central''), near the northern slopes of t ...
, a powerful town north of the
Sierra de Guadarrama
The Sierra de Guadarrama (Guadarrama Mountains) is a mountain range forming the main eastern section of the Sistema Central, the system of mountain ranges along the centre of the Iberian Peninsula. It is located between the systems Sierra de G ...
mountain range, characterised by its repopulating prowess and its husbandry-based economy, contrasted by the agricultural and less competent in repopulation town of Madrid. After the decline of
Sepúlveda, another ''concejo'' north of the mountain range, Segovia had become a major actor south of the Guadarrama mountains, expanding across the
Lozoya and
Manzanares rivers to the north of Madrid and along the
Guadarrama river course to its west.
In 1309, the Courts of Castile convened at Madrid for the first time under
Ferdinand IV, and later in 1329, 1339, 1391, 1393, 1419 and twice in 1435.
Modern Age
During the
revolt of the Comuneros
The Revolt of the Comuneros ( es, Guerra de las Comunidades de Castilla, "War of the Communities of Castile") was an uprising by citizens of Castile against the rule of Charles I and his administration between 1520 and 1521. At its height, th ...
, led by
Juan de Padilla
Juan de Padilla, OFM (1500–1542) was a Spanish Catholic priest and missionary who spent much of his life exploring North America with Francisco Vásquez de Coronado. He was killed in what would become Kansas by Native Americans in 1542.
...
, Madrid joined the revolt against
Charles, Holy Roman Emperor, but after defeat at the
Battle of Villalar, Madrid was besieged and occupied by the imperial troops. The city was however granted the titles of ''Coronada'' (Crowned) and ''Imperial''.
![Dibujo madrid 1562](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Dibujo_madrid_1562.JPG)
The number of urban inhabitants grew from 4,060 in the year 1530 to 37,500 in the year 1594. The poor population of the court was composed of ex-soldiers, foreigners, rogues and Ruanes, dissatisfied with the lack of food and high prices. In June 1561
Phillip II set his court in Madrid, installing it in the old
''alcázar''. Thanks to this, the city of Madrid became the political centre of the monarchy, being the capital of Spain except for a short period between 1601 and 1606, in which the Court was relocated to
Valladolid
Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peop ...
(and the Madrid population temporarily plummeted accordingly). Being the capital was decisive for the evolution of the city and influenced its fate and during the rest of the reign of Philip II, the population boomed, going up from about 18,000 in 1561 to 80,000 in 1598.
![Madrid - Calle de Alcalá in 18th-century by Antonio Joli](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Madrid_-_Calle_de_Alcal%C3%A1_in_18th-century_by_Antonio_Joli.jpg)
During the early 17th century, although Madrid recovered from the loss of the capital status, with the return of diplomats, lords and affluent people, as well as an entourage of noted writers and artists together with them, extreme poverty was however rampant. The century also was a time of heyday for theatre, represented in the so-called
''corrales de comedias''.
The city changed hands several times during the
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...
: from the Bourbon control it passed to the allied "Austracist" army with Portuguese and English presence that , only to be retaken by the Bourbon army on 4 August 1706. The Habsburg army led by the
Archduke Charles
Archduke Charles Louis John Joseph Laurentius of Austria, Duke of Teschen (german: link=no, Erzherzog Karl Ludwig Johann Josef Lorenz von Österreich, Herzog von Teschen; 5 September 177130 April 1847) was an Austrian field-marshal, the third s ...
in September 1710, leaving the city less than three months after.
Philip V entered the capital on 3 December 1710.
Seeking to take advantage of the Madrid's location at the geographic centre of Spain, the 18th century saw a sustained effort to create a radial system of communications and transports for the country through public investments.
Philip V built the Royal Palace, the
Royal Tapestry Factory
The Royal Tapestry Factory (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Real Fábrica de Tapices de Santa Bárbara'') is a manufacturing plant located in Madrid, Spain, which was founded in 1720.
History
The factory was founded by Philip V of Spain, Philip V ...
and the main Royal Academies. The reign of
Charles III
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person t ...
, who came to be known as "the best mayor of Madrid", saw an effort to turn the city into a true capital, with the construction of sewers, street lighting, cemeteries outside the city and a number of monuments and cultural institutions. The reforms enacted by his Sicilian minister were however opposed in 1766 by the populace in the so-called
Esquilache Riots, a revolt demanding to repeal a clothing decree banning the use of traditional hats and
long cloaks aiming to curb crime in the city.
![El dos de mayo de 1808 en Madrid](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/El_dos_de_mayo_de_1808_en_Madrid.jpg)
In the context of the
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
, the situation in French-occupied Madrid after March 1808 was becoming more and more tense. On 2 May, a crowd began to gather near the
Royal Palace protesting against the French attempt to evict the remaining members of the Bourbon royal family to
Bayonne, prompting up an uprising against the French Imperial troops that lasted hours and spread throughout the city, including a famous last stand at the Monteleón barracks. Subsequent repression was brutal, with many insurgent Spaniards being
summarily executed
A summary execution is an execution in which a person is accused of a crime and immediately killed without the benefit of a full and fair trial. Executions as the result of summary justice (such as a drumhead court-martial) are sometimes include ...
. The uprising led to a declaration of war calling all the Spaniards to fights against the French invaders.
Capital of the Liberal State
![Plano del Ensanche de Madrid-1861](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Plano_del_Ensanche_de_Madrid-1861.jpg)
The city was invaded on 24 May 1823 by a French army—the so-called
Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis
"The Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis" was the popular name for a French army mobilized in 1823 by the Bourbon King of France, Louis XVIII, to help the Spanish Royalists restore King Ferdinand VII of Spain to the absolute power of which he ...
—called to intervene to restore the
absolutism of Ferdinand that the latter had been deprived from during the
1820–1823 ''trienio liberal''. Unlike other European capitals, during the first half of the 19th century the only noticeable bourgeois elements in Madrid (that experienced a delay in its industrial development up to that point) were merchants. The University of Alcalá de Henares was relocated to Madrid in 1836, becoming the
Central University.
The economy of the city further modernized during the second half of the 19th century, consolidating its status as a service and financial centre. New industries were mostly focused in book publishing, construction and low-tech sectors. The introduction of
railway transport
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...
greatly helped Madrid's economic prowess, and led to changes in consumption patterns (such as the substitution of salted fish for fresh fish from the Spanish coasts) as well as further strengthening the city's role as a
logistics node in the country's distribution network. Electric lightning in the streets was introduced in the 1890s.
During the first third of the 20th century the population nearly doubled, reaching more than 850,000 inhabitants. New suburbs such as Las Ventas,
Tetuán and El Carmen became the homes of the influx of workers, while
Ensanche
means "widening" in Spanish. It is used to name the development areas of Spanish cities around the end of the 19th century, when the demographic explosion and the Industrial Revolution prompted the tearing down of the old city wall and the cons ...
became a middle-class neighbourhood of Madrid.
Second Republic and Civil War
The
Spanish Constitution of 1931
The Spanish Constitution of 1931 was approved by the Constituent Assembly on 9 December 1931. It was the constitution of the Second Spanish Republic (founded 14 April 1931) and was in force until 1 April 1939. This was the second period of Spanis ...
was the first to legislate the location of the country's capital, setting it explicitly in Madrid. During the 1930s, Madrid enjoyed "great vitality"; it was demographically young, becoming urbanized and the centre of new political movements. During this time, major construction projects were undertaken, including the northern extension of the
Paseo de la Castellana, one of Madrid's major thoroughfares. The tertiary sector, including banking, insurance and telephone services, grew greatly. Illiteracy rates were down to below 20%, and the city's cultural life grew notably during the so-called ''Silver Age'' of Spanish Culture; the sales of newspapers also increased. Conversely, the proclamation of the Republic created a severe housing shortage. Slums and squalor grew due to high population growth and the influx of the poor to the city. Construction of affordable housing failed to keep pace and increased political instability discouraged economic investment in housing in the years immediately prior to the Civil War. Anti-clericalism and Catholicism lived side by side in Madrid; the
burning of convents initiated after riots in the city in May 1931 worsened the political environment. However, the
1934 insurrection largely failed in the city.
![People of Madrid seek refuge in the metro during the Francoist bombings](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/People_of_Madrid_seek_refuge_in_the_metro_during_the_Francoist_bombings.jpg)
Madrid was one of the most heavily affected cities in the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
(1936–1939). It was a stronghold of the
Republican faction from July 1936 and became an international symbol of
anti-fascist struggle during the conflict. The city suffered aerial bombing, and in November 1936, its western suburbs were the scene of an all-out battle.
The city fell to the Francoists in March 1939.
Francoist dictatorship
![Madrid, Tetuán 1978 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Madrid%2C_Tetu%C3%A1n_1978_01.jpg)
A staple of post-war Madrid (''Madrid de la posguerra'') was the widespread use of
ration coupons. Meat and fish consumption was scarce, resulting in high mortality due to malnutrition. Due to its history as a left-wing stronghold, the right-wing victors toyed with the possibility of moving the capital elsewhere (most notably to
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
), such plans were never implemented. The Franco regime instead emphasized the city's history as the capital of formerly imperial Spain.
The intense demographic growth experienced by the city via mass immigration from the rural areas of the country led to the construction of plenty of housing in the peripheral areas of the city to absorb the new population (reinforcing the processes of social polarization of the city), initially comprising substandard housing (with as many as 50,000
shacks scattered around the city by 1956). A transitional planning intended to temporarily replace the shanty towns were the ''poblados de absorción'', introduced since the mid-1950s in locations such as
Canillas,
San Fermín, Caño Roto,
Villaverde, ,
Zofío and
Fuencarral Fuencarral is a neighborhood located in the northern part of Madrid, Spain. It includes the municipal area of the ancient town of Fuencarral, which was annexed to the city of Madrid by a decree of November 10, 1950. Administratively, Fuencarral belo ...
, aiming to work as a sort of "high-end" shacks (with the destinataries participating in the construction of their own housing) but under the aegis of a wider coordinated urban planning.
Madrid grew through the annexation of neighboring municipalities, achieving the present extent of . The south of Madrid became heavily industrialized, and there was significant
immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...
from rural areas of Spain. Madrid's newly built north-western districts became the home of a newly enriched middle class that appeared as result of the
1960s Spanish economic boom, while the south-eastern periphery became a large working-class area, which formed the base for active cultural and political movements.
Recent history
After the fall of the Francoist regime, the new
1978 constitution confirmed Madrid as the capital of Spain. The
1979 municipal election brought Madrid's first democratically elected mayor since the Second Republic to power.
Madrid was the scene of some of the most important events of the time, such as the mass demonstrations of support for democracy after the failed coup,
23-F, on 23 February 1981. The first democratic mayors belonged to the centre-left PSOE (
Enrique Tierno Galván,
Juan Barranco Gallardo). Since the late 1970s and through the 1980s Madrid became the center of the cultural movement known as ''
la Movida
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
''. Conversely, just like in the rest of the country, a
heroin crisis took a toll in the poor neighborhoods of Madrid in the 1980s.
![Puertadelsol2011](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Puertadelsol2011.jpg)
Benefiting from increasing prosperity in the 1980s and 1990s, the capital city of Spain consolidated its position as an important economic, cultural, industrial, educational, and technological centre on the European continent.
During the mandate as Mayor of
José María Álvarez del Manzano construction of traffic tunnels below the city proliferated. The following administrations, also conservative, led by
Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón
Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón Jiménez (born 11 December 1958) is a Spanish politician and former Minister of Justice. He was mayor of Madrid between 2003 and 2011. A stalwart of the conservative People's Party (PP), he has previously been a leadin ...
and
Ana Botella launched three unsuccessful bids for the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics. By 2005, Madrid was the leading European destination for migrants from
developing countries
A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...
, as well as the largest employer of non-European workforce in Spain. Madrid was a centre of the
anti-austerity protests
The anti-austerity movement refers to the mobilisation of street protests and grassroots campaigns that has happened across various countries, especially in Europe, since the onset of the worldwide Great Recession.
Anti- austerity actions are ...
that erupted in Spain in 2011. As consequence of the spillover of the
2008 financial and mortgage crisis, Madrid has been affected by the increasing number of second-hand homes held by banks and
house evictions. The mandate of left-wing Mayor
Manuela Carmena (2015–2019) delivered the renaturalization of the course of the
Manzanares across the city.
Since the late 2010s, the challenges the city faces include the increasingly unaffordable rental prices (often in parallel with the
gentrification
Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ec ...
and the spike of tourist apartments in the city centre) and the profusion of
betting shop
In the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, a betting shop is a shop away from a racecourse ("off-course") where one can legally place bets in person with a licensed bookmaker. Most shops are part of chains including William Hill, ...
s in working-class areas, leading to an "epidemic" of gambling among young people.
Geography
Location
![Madrid by Sentinel-2, 2020-10-30](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Madrid_by_Sentinel-2%2C_2020-10-30.jpg)
Madrid lies in the centre of the Iberian peninsula on the southern
Meseta Central
The ''Meseta Central'' (, sometimes referred to in English as Inner Plateau) is one of the basic geographical units of the Iberian Peninsula. It consists of a plateau covering a large part of the latter's interior.
Developed during the 19th cent ...
, 60 km south of the
Guadarrama mountain range and straddling the
Jarama
Jarama () is a river in central Spain. It flows north to south, and passes east of Madrid where the El Atazar Dam is built on a tributary, the Lozoya River. It flows into the river Tagus in Aranjuez. The Manzanares is a tributary of the Jaram ...
and
Manzanares river sub-drainage basins, in the wider
Tagus River
The Tagus ( ; es, Tajo ; pt, Tejo ; see below) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales near Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally west with two main south-westward sections, to ...
catchment area. With an average altitude of , Madrid is the second highest capital of
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
(after
Andorra la Vella
Andorra la Vella french: Andorre-la-Vieille is the capital of the Principality of Andorra. It is located high in the east Pyrenees, between France and Spain. It is also the name of the parish that surrounds the capital.
, the city has a popu ...
). There is a considerable difference in altitude within the city proper ranging from the around
Plaza de Castilla
The Plaza de Castilla ( en, "Castile Square") is a roundabout in the north of Madrid, Spain.
Location
It is located in the north of the city and is bisected by Paseo de la Castellana, one of the main thoroughfares of the capital, almost at its ...
in the north of city to the around ''La China'' wastewater treatment plant on the Manzanares' riverbanks, near the latter's confluence with the Fuente Castellana
thalweg
In geography and fluvial geomorphology, a thalweg or talweg () is the line of lowest elevation within a valley or watercourse.
Under international law, a thalweg is the middle of the primary navigable channel of a waterway that defines the boun ...
in the south of the city. The
Monte de El Pardo (a protected forested area covering over a quarter of the municipality) reaches its top altitude () on its perimeter, in the slopes surrounding located at the north-western end of the municipality, in the
Fuencarral-El Pardo
Fuencarral-El Pardo is one of the 21 districts that form the city of Madrid, Spain.
Overview
Fuencarral-El Pardo is the district number 8 and consists of the following neighborhoods: El Pardo (81), Fuentelarreina (82), Peñagrande (83), Pilar (84) ...
district.
The oldest urban core is located on the hills next to the left bank of the Manzanares River.
The city grew to the east, reaching the (now the
Paseo de la Castellana), and further east reaching the (now the
M-30).
The city also grew through the annexation of neighbouring urban settlements,
including those to the South West on the right bank of the Manzanares.
Climate
Madrid has a
Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''Csa'') with continental influences in the western half of the city transitioning to a
semi-arid climate
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of sem ...
(''BSk'') in the eastern half.
Winters are cool due to its altitude, which is approximately
above sea level and distance from the moderating effect of the sea. While mostly sunny, rain, sporadic snowfalls and frequent frosts can occur between December and February with cooler temperatures particularly during the night and mornings as cold winds blow into the city from surrounding mountains. Summers are hot and sunny, in the warmest month, July, average temperatures during the day range from depending on location, with maxima commonly climbing over and occasionally up to 40 °C during the frequent heat waves. Due to Madrid's altitude and dry climate, humidity is low and
diurnal ranges are often significant, particularly on sunny winter days when the temperature rises in the afternoon before rapidly plummeting after nightfall. Madrid is among the sunniest capital cities in Europe.
The highest recorded temperature was on 14 August 2021, with and the lowest recorded temperature was on 16 January 1945 with in Madrid. While on the airport, in the eastern side of the city, the highest recorded temperature was on 24 July 1995, at , and the lowest recorded temperature was on 16 January 1945 at .
From 7 January to 9 January 2021, Madrid received the most snow in its recorded history since 1904; Spain's meteorological agency
AEMET
The State Meteorological Agency (, AEMET) is a state agency of the Government of Spain responsible for providing weather forecast, warnings of hazardous weather and assisting the administrations in such matters. The AEMET is part of the Secretaria ...
reported between of accumulated snow in its
weather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include tempera ...
s within the city.
Precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
is typically concentrated in the autumn and spring, and, together with
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, which has similar annual precipitation, Madrid is the European capital with less annual precipitation. It is particularly sparse during the summer, taking the form of about two showers and/or thunderstorms during the season.
At the metropolitan scale, Madrid features both substantial daytime urban cool island and nightime
urban heat island
An urban heat island (UHI) is an urban or metropolitan area that is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas due to human activities. The temperature difference is usually larger at night than during the day, and is most apparen ...
effects during the hot season in relation to its surroundings, which feature thinly vegetated dry land.
Water supply
In the 17th century, the ''viajes de agua'' (a kind of water channels or ''
qanat
A qanat or kārīz is a system for transporting water from an aquifer or water well to the surface, through an underground aqueduct; the system originated approximately 3,000 BC in what is now Iran. The function is essentially the same across ...
'') were used to provide water to the city. Some of the most important ones were the (1610–1621, sponsored by the Crown), the (1613–1620) and / (1617–1630), sponsored by the City Council. They were the main infrastructure for the supply of water until the arrival of the
Canal de Isabel II Canal de Isabel II (CYII) is the only company that manages the water supplies for Madrid, Spain. It is owned by the Autonomous Community of Madrid
The Community of Madrid (; es, Comunidad de Madrid ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communiti ...
in the mid-19th century.
Madrid derives almost 73.5 percent of its
water supply
Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Thes ...
from dams and reservoirs built on the
Lozoya River
The Lozoya River () is a river flowing near the centre of Spain. It originates at a high altitude in the Sistema Central and cuts downward through steep rocks to flow into the Jarama River, a major tributary of the Tajo, the longest river on ...
, such as the
El Atazar Dam
El Atazar Dam is an arch dam built near Madrid, Spain on the Lozoya River, very close to where the Lozoya joins the Jarama. The curved design of the dam is optimum for the narrow gorge in which it was built to retain water in the reservoir. Arch ...
. This water supply is managed by the Canal de Isabel II, a public entity created in 1851. It is responsible for the supply, depurating waste water and the conservation of all the natural water resources of the Madrid region.
Demographics
The population of Madrid has overall increased since the city became the capital of Spain in the mid-16th century, and has stabilised at approximately 3 million since the 1970s.
From 1970 until the mid-1990s, the population dropped. This phenomenon, which also affected other European cities, was caused in part by the growth of satellite suburbs at the expense of the downtown region within the city proper.
The
demographic boom accelerated in the late 1990s and early first decade of the 21st century due to
immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...
in parallel with a surge in Spanish
economic growth.
The wider Madrid region is the EU region with the highest average life expectancy at birth. The average life expectancy was 82.2 years for males and 87.8 for females in 2016.
As the capital city of Spain, the city has attracted many immigrants from around the world, with most of the immigrants coming from
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
n countries. In 2020, around 76% of the registered population was Spain-born,
while, regarding the foreign-born population (24%),
the bulk of it relates to
the Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
(around 16% of the total population), and a lesser fraction of the population is born in other
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
an,
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
n and
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n countries.
As of 2019 the highest rising national group of immigrants was Venezuelans.
Regarding religious beliefs, according to a 2019
Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas
The Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas ("Centre for Sociological Research") or CIS is a Spanish public research institute. It was founded in 1963 as the Instituto de la Opinión Pública, and in 1977, after the Spanish general election in ...
(CIS) survey with a sample size of 469 respondents, 20.7% of respondents in Madrid identify themselves as practising
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
s, 45.8% as non-practising Catholics, 3.8% as believers of another religion, 11.1% as Agnosticism, agnostics, 3.6% as indifferent towards religion, and 12.8% as Atheism, atheists. The remaining 2.1% did not state their religious beliefs.
The Madrid metropolitan area comprises Madrid and the surrounding municipalities. According to Eurostat, the "metropolitan region" of Madrid has a population of slightly more than 6.271 million people
covering an area of . It is the largest in Spain and the List of metropolitan areas in Europe by population, second largest in the European Union.
Government
Local government and administration
The City Council (''Ayuntamiento de Madrid'') is the body responsible for the government and administration of the municipality. It is formed by the Plenary (''Pleno''), the Mayor (''alcalde'') and the Government Board (''Junta de Gobierno de la Ciudad de Madrid'').
The Plenary of the Ayuntamiento is the body of representation (politics), political representation of the citizens in the Local government, municipal government. Its 57 members are elected for a 4-year mandate. Some of its attributions are: fiscal matters, the election and deposition of the mayor, the approval and modification of decrees and regulations, the approval of budgets, the agreements related to the limits and alteration of the municipal term, the services management, the participation in supramunicipal organisations, etc.
The mayor, the supreme representative of the city, presides over the Ayuntamiento (Spain), ''Ayuntamiento''. He is charged with giving impetus to the municipal policies, managing the action of the rest of bodies and directing the executive municipal administration. He is responsible to the ''Pleno''. He is also entitled to preside over the meetings of the ''Pleno'', although this responsibility can be delegated to another municipal councillor.
José Luis Martínez-Almeida
José Luis Martínez-Almeida Navasqüés (born 17 April 1975) is a Spanish state lawyer and politician. A member of the People's Party (PP), he has been a member of the Madrid City Council since 2015 and has been Mayor of Madrid since 2019.
...
, a member of the
People's Party, serves as mayor since 2019.
The Government Board consists of the mayor, deputy mayors and a number of delegates assuming the portfolios for the different government areas. All those positions are held by municipal councillors.
Since 2007, the Cybele Palace (or Palace of Communications) serves as City Hall.
Administrative subdivisions
Madrid is administratively divided into 21 districts, which are further subdivided into 131 neighbourhoods (''barrios''):
Regional capital
Madrid is the capital of the Community of Madrid. The region has its own legislature and enjoys a wide range of competencies in areas such as social spending, healthcare, and education. The seat of the regional parliament, the Assembly of Madrid, is located at the district of Puente de Vallecas. The President of the Community of Madrid, presidency of the regional government is headquartered at the Royal House of the Post Office at the very centre of the city, the Puerta del Sol.
Capital of Spain
Madrid is the capital of Spain. The King of Spain, the country's head of state, has his official residence in the Palace of Zarzuela, Zarzuela Palace. As the seat of the Government of Spain, Madrid also houses the official residence of the Prime Minister of Spain, President of the Government (Prime Minister) and regular meeting place of the Council of Ministers (Spain), Council of Ministers, the Palace of Moncloa, Moncloa Palace, as well as the headquarters of the ministerial departments. Both the residences of the head of state and government are located at the northwest of the city. Additionally, the seats of the Lower and Upper Chambers of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales (respectively, the Palacio de las Cortes and the Palacio del Senado), also lie on Madrid.
Law enforcement
The Policía Municipal de Madrid, Madrid Municipal Police (''Policía Municipal de Madrid'') is the local law enforcement body, dependent on the ''Ayuntamiento''. As of 2018, it had a workforce of civil servants.
The headquarters of both the Directorate-General of the Police and the Directorate-General of the Civil Guard are located in Madrid. The headquarters of the Higher Office of Police of Madrid (''Jefatura Superior de Policía de Madrid''), the peripheral branch of the Cuerpo Nacional de Policía, National Police Corps with jurisdiction over the region also lies on Madrid.
Cityscape
Architecture
Little medieval architecture is preserved in Madrid, mostly in the Almendra Central, including the Church of San Nicolás (Madrid), San Nicolás and San Pedro el Real, Madrid, San Pedro el Viejo church towers, the church of San Jerónimo el Real, and the Chapel of Obispo de Madrid, Bishop's Chapel. Nor has Madrid retained much Renaissance architecture, other than the Bridge of Segovia (Madrid), Bridge of Segovia and the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales.
![Plaza Mayor de Madrid 06](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Plaza_Mayor_de_Madrid_06.jpg)
Philip II moved his court to Madrid in 1561 and transformed the town into a capital city. During the Early Hapsburg period, the import of European influences took place, underpinned by the monicker of ''Austrian style''. The Austrian style featured not only Austrian influences but also Italian and Dutch (as well as Spanish), reflecting on the international preeminence of the Habsburgs. During the second half of the 16th century, the use of pointy slate spires in order to top structures such as church towers was imported to Spain from Central Europe. Slate spires and roofs consequently became a staple of the Madrilenian architecture at the time.
Stand out architecture in the city dating back to the early 17th century includes several buildings and structures (most of them attributed to Juan Gómez de Mora) such as the Palacio de los Concejos, Palace of the Duke of Uceda (1610), the Royal Monastery of La Encarnación, Monastery of La Encarnación (1611–1616); the Plaza Mayor de Madrid, Plaza Mayor (1617–1619) or the ''Cárcel de Corte'' (1629–1641), currently known as the Santa Cruz Palace, Madrid, Santa Cruz Palace. The century also saw the construction of the former City Hall, the Casa de la Villa.
The Colegio Imperial de Madrid, Imperial College church model dome was imitated in all of Spain. Pedro de Ribera introduced Churrigueresque architecture to Madrid; the Cuartel del Conde-Duque, the Our Lady of Montserrat Church, Madrid, church of Montserrat, and the Bridge of Toledo (Madrid), Bridge of Toledo are among the best examples.
![Palacio Real Jardines](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Palacio_Real_Jardines.jpg)
The reign of Bourbon Spain, the Bourbons during the eighteenth century marked a new era in the city.
Philip V tried to complete King Philip II's vision of urbanisation of Madrid. Philip V built a palace in line with French taste, as well as other buildings such as St. Michael's Basilica (Madrid), St. Michael's Basilica and the Church of Santa Barbara, Madrid, Church of Santa Bárbara. King
Charles III
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person t ...
beautified the city and endeavoured to convert Madrid into one of the great European capitals. He pushed forward the construction of the Prado Museum (originally intended as a Natural Science Museum), the Puerta de Alcalá, the Royal Observatory of Madrid, Royal Observatory, the Basilica of San Francisco el Grande, the Casa de Correos in Puerta del Sol, the Real Casa de la Aduana, and the General Hospital (which now houses the Reina Sofia Museum and Royal Conservatory of Music). The
Paseo del Prado
The Paseo del Prado is one of the main boulevards in Madrid, Spain. It runs north–south between the Plaza de Cibeles and the Plaza del Emperador Carlos V (also known as Plaza de Atocha), with the Plaza de Cánovas del Castillo (the locati ...
, surrounded by gardens and decorated with neoclassical statues, is an example of urban planning. The Duke of Berwick ordered the construction of the Liria Palace.
During the early 19th century, the
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
, the Spanish American wars of independence, loss of viceroyalties in the Americas, and continuing coups limited the city's architectural development (
Royal Theatre, the Biblioteca Nacional de España, National Library of Spain, the Palace of the Senate, and the Congress of Deputies (Spain)#Congress of Deputies building, Congress). The Segovia Viaduct linked the Royal Alcázar to the southern part of town.
![Estatua de Atenea - Círculo de Bellas Artes (Madrid)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Estatua_de_Atenea_-_C%C3%ADrculo_de_Bellas_Artes_%28Madrid%29.jpg)
The list of key figures of madrilenian architecture during the 19th and 20th centuries includes authors such as Narciso Pascual Colomer, Narciso Pascual y Colomer, Francisco Jareño y Alarcón, Francisco de Cubas, Juan Bautista Lázaro de Diego, Ricardo Velázquez Bosco, Antonio Palacios, Secundino Zuazo, Luis Gutiérrez Soto, and Alejandro de la Sota (architect), Alejandro de la Sota.
From the mid-19th century until the Civil War, Madrid modernised and built new neighbourhoods and monuments. The expansion of Madrid developed under the Ensanche, Plan Castro, resulting in the neighbourhoods of Salamanca (Madrid), Salamanca, Moncloa-Aravaca, Argüelles, and Chamberí. Arturo Soria conceived the Linear city (Soria design), linear city and built the first few kilometres of the road that bears his name, which embodies the idea. The Gran Vía (Madrid), Gran Vía was built using different styles that evolved over time: French style, eclectic, art deco, and expressionist. However, Art Nouveau in Madrid, known as ''Modernismo'' did also develop at the turn of the century, in concert with its appearance elsewhere in Europe, including Barcelona and Valencia. Antonio Palacios built a series of buildings inspired by the Viennese Secession, such as the Palace of Communication, the Círculo de Bellas Artes, and the Río de La Plata Bank (now
Instituto Cervantes
Instituto Cervantes (the Cervantes Institute) is a worldwide nonprofit organization created by the Spanish government in 1991. It is named after Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616), the author of ''Don Quixote'' and perhaps the most important figur ...
). Other notable buildings include the Bank of Spain, the neo-Gothic Almudena Cathedral, Atocha Station, and the Catalan art-nouveau Palace of Longoria. Las Ventas Bullring was built, as the Market of San Miguel (Cast-Iron style).
![Edificio España - 05](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Edificio_Espa%C3%B1a_-_05.jpg)
Following the Francoist takeover that ensued the end of Spanish Civil war, architecture experienced an involution, discarding rationalism and, eclecticism notwithstanding, going back to an overall rather "outmoded" architectural language, with the purpose of turning Madrid into a capital worthy of the "Immortal Spain".
Iconic examples of this period include the General Headquarters of the Air and Space Force, Ministry of the Air (a case of herrerian revival) and the Edificio España (presented as the tallest building in Europe when it was inaugurated in 1953).
Many of these buildings distinctly combine the use of brick and stone in the façades.
The Casa Sindical marked a breaking point as it was the first to reassume rationalism, although that relinking to modernity was undertaken through the imitation of the Italian Fascist architecture.
With the advent of Spanish economic development, skyscrapers, such as Torre Picasso, Torres Blancas and Torre BBVA, and the Gate of Europe, appeared in the late 20th century in the city. During the decade of the 2000s, the four tallest skyscrapers in Spain were built and together form the Cuatro Torres Business Area. Terminal 4 at
Madrid-Barajas Airport was inaugurated in 2006 and won several architectural awards.
Terminal 4 is one of the world's largest terminal areas and features glass panes and domes in the roof, which allow natural light to pass through.
Parks and forests
Madrid has the second highest number of aligned trees in the world, with 248,000 units, only exceeded by Tokyo. Madrid's citizens have access to a green area within a 15-minute walk. Since 1997, green areas have increased by 16%. At present, 8.2% of Madrid's grounds are green areas, meaning that there are of green area per inhabitant, far exceeding the per inhabitant recommended by the World Health Organization.
A great bulk of the most important parks in Madrid are related to areas originally belonging to the royal assets (including El Pardo, Soto de Viñuelas, Casa de Campo, El Buen Retiro, la Florida and the Príncipe Pío (hill), Príncipe Pío hill, and the Queen's Casino). The other main source for the "green" areas are the ' owned by the municipality (including the Dehesa de la Villa, the Dehesa de Arganzuela or Viveros).
Buen Retiro Park, El Retiro is the most visited location of the city. Having an area bigger than (350 acres), it is the largest park within the Almendra Central, the inner part of the city enclosed by the M-30. Created during the reign of Philip IV of Spain, Philip IV (17th century), it was handed over to the municipality in 1868, after the Glorious Revolution. It lies next to the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid, Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid.
Located northwest of the city centre, the Parque del Oeste ("Park of the West") comprises part of the area of the former royal possession of the "Real Florida", and it features a slope as the height decreases down to the Manzanares. Its southern extension includes the Temple of Debod, a transported ancient Egyptian temple.
Other urban parks are the Parque de El Capricho, the Parque Juan Carlos I (both in northeast Madrid), Madrid Río, the , the as well as gardens such as the Campo del Moro (opened to the public in 1978) and the Sabatini Gardens (opened to the public in 1931) near the Royal Palace.
Further west, across the Manzanares, lies the Casa de Campo, a large forested area with more than (6.6 sq mi) where the Zoo Aquarium de Madrid, Madrid Zoo, and the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid amusement park are located. It was ceded to the municipality following the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931.
The
Monte de El Pardo is the largest forested area in the municipality. A Quercus rotundifolia, holm oak forest covering a surface over hectares, it is considered the best preserved mediterranean forest in the Community of Madrid and one of the best preserved in Europe.
Already mentioned in the
Alfonso XI
Alfonso XI (13 August 131126 March 1350), called the Avenger (''el Justiciero''), was King of Castile and León. He was the son of Ferdinand IV of Castile and his wife Constance of Portugal. Upon his father's death in 1312, several disputes en ...
's ' from the mid-14th century, its condition as hunting location linked to the Spanish monarchy help to preserve the environmental value.
During the reign of Ferdinand VII the regime of hunting prohibition for the Monte de El Pardo became one of full property and the expropriation of all possessions within its bounds was enforced, with dire consequences for the madrilenians at the time. It is designated as Special Protection Area for bird-life and it is also part of the Regional Park of the High Basin of the Manzanares.
Other large forested areas include the Soto de Viñuelas, the and the . As of 2015, the most recent big park in the municipality is the Valdebebas Park. Covering a total area of , it is sub-divided in a forest park (the ), a periurban park as well as municipal garden centres and compost plants.
Economy
![Bolsa-madrid-010711-3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Bolsa-madrid-010711-3.jpg)
After it became the capital of Spain in the 16th century, Madrid was more a centre of consumption (economics), consumption than of production or trade. Economic activity was largely devoted to supplying the city's own rapidly growing population, including the royal household and national government, and to such trades as banking and publishing.
A large industrial sector did not develop until the 20th century, but thereafter industry greatly expanded and diversified, making Madrid the second industrial city in Spain. However, the economy of the city is now becoming more and more dominated by the tertiary sector of the economy, service sector. A major European financial center, its stock market is the third largest stock market in Europe featuring both the IBEX 35 index and the attached stock market (with the second most important index for
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
n companies).
Madrid is the 5th most important leading Centre of Commerce in Europe (after London, Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam) and ranks 11th in the world.
It is the leading Spanish-speaking city in terms of webpage creation.
Economic history
As the capital city of the Spanish Empire from 1561, Madrid's population grew rapidly. Administration, banking, and small-scale manufacturing centred on the royal court were among the main activities, but the city was more a locus of consumption than production or trade, geographically isolated as it was before the coming of the railways.
The Bank of Spain is one of the oldest European central banks. Originally named as the Bank of San Carlos as it was founded in 1782, it was later renamed to Bank of San Fernando in 1829 and ultimately became the Bank of Spain in 1856. Bank of Spain Building, Its headquarters are located at the calle de Alcalá.
The Bolsa de Madrid, Madrid Stock Exchange was inaugurated on 20 October 1831. Its benchmark stock market index is the IBEX 35.
Industry started to develop on a large scale only in the 20th century,
[Juliá, S. et al. (1995), ''Madrid, Historia de una capital''] but then grew rapidly, especially during the "Spanish miracle" period around the 1960s. The economy of the city was then centred on manufacturing industries such as those related to motor vehicles, aircraft, chemicals, electronic devices, pharmaceuticals, Food processing, processed food, printed materials, and leather goods.
Since the restoration of democracy in the late 1970s, the city has continued to expand. Its economy is now among the most dynamic and diverse in the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
.
Present-day economy
![Cuatro Torres (49170066717)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Cuatro_Torres_%2849170066717%29.jpg)
Madrid concentrates activities directly connected with power (central and regional government, headquarters of Spanish companies, regional HQ of Multinational corporation, multinationals, finance, financial institutions) and with knowledge and technological innovation (research centres and universities). It is one of Europe's largest financial centres, and the largest in Spain.
[''Estructura Economica de le Ciudad de Madrid'']
, ''Ayuntamiento de Madrid'' (Madrid City Council), August 2013 The city has 17 universities and over 30 research centres.
[ It is the second metropolis in the EU by population, and the third by gross internal product.][ Leading employers include ]Telefónica
Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...
, Iberia
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
, Prosegur, BBVA
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (), better known by its initialism BBVA, is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Bilbao, Spain. It is one of the largest financial institutions in the world, and is present ...
, Urbaser, Dragados, and FCC
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdictio ...
.[
The Community of Madrid, the region comprising the city and the rest of municipalities of the province, had a GDP of €220B in 2017, equating to a GDP per capita of €33,800. In 2011 the city itself had a GDP per capita 74% above the national average and 70% above that of the 27 ]European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
member states, although 11% behind the average of the top 10 cities of the EU. Although housing just over 50% of the Community of Madrid, region's's population, the city generates 65.9% of its GDP. Following the 2008–14 Spanish financial crisis, recession commencing 2007/8, recovery was under way by 2014, with forecast growth rates for the city of 1.4% in 2014, 2.7% in 2015 and 2.8% in 2016.
The economy of Madrid has become based increasingly on the tertiary sector of the economy, service sector. In 2011 services accounted for 85.9% of value added, while Industrial sector, industry contributed 7.9% and construction 6.1%.[ Nevertheless, Madrid continues to hold the position of Spain's second industrial centre after Barcelona, specialising particularly in high-technology production. Following the recession, services and industry were forecast to return to growth in 2014, and construction in 2015.][
]
Standard of living
Mean household income and spending are 12% above the Spanish average.[ The proportion classified as "at risk of poverty" in 2010 was 15.6%, up from 13.0% in 2006 but less than the average for Spain of 21.8%. The proportion classified as affluent was 43.3%, much higher than Spain overall (28.6%).][
Consumption by Madrid residents has been affected by job losses and by austerity measures, including a rise in sales tax from 8% to 21% in 2012.
Although residential property prices have fallen by 39% since 2007, the average price of dwelling space was €2,375.6 per sq. m. in early 2014,][ and is shown as second only to London in a list of 22 European cities.
]
Employment
Participation in the labour force was 1,638,200 in 2011, or 79.0%. The employed workforce comprised 49% women in 2011 (Spain, 45%).[ 41% of economically active people are university graduates, against 24% for Spain as a whole.][
In 2011, the unemployment rate was 15.8%, remaining lower than in Spain as a whole. Among those aged 16–24, the unemployment rate was 39.6%.][ Unemployment reached a peak of 19.1% in 2013,][ but with the start of an economic recovery in 2014, employment started to increase. Employment continues to shift further towards the service sector, with 86% of all jobs in this sector by 2011, against 74% in all of Spain.][ In the second quarter of 2018 the unemployment rate was 10.06%.
]
Services
The share of services in the city's economy is 86%. Services for business, transport & communications, property, and financial together account for 52% of the total value added.[ The types of services that are now expanding are mainly those that facilitate movement of capital, information, goods and persons, and "advanced business services" such as research and development (R&D), information technology, and technical accountancy.][
Madrid and the wider region's authorities have put a notable effort in the development of Logistics center, logistics infrastructure. Within the city proper, some of the standout centres include Mercamadrid, the logistics centre, the Villaverde's Logistics Centre and the Vicálvaro's Logistics Centre to name a few.
Banks based in Madrid carry out 72% of the banking activity in Spain.][ The Spanish central bank, Bank of Spain, has existed in Madrid since 1782. Stocks & shares, bond (finance), bond markets, insurance, and pension funds are other important forms of financial institution in the city.
]
Madrid is an important centre for trade fairs, many of them coordinated by IFEMA, the Trade Fair Institution of Madrid. The public sector employs 18.1% of all employees. Madrid attracts about 8M tourism, tourists annually from other parts of Spain and from all over the world, exceeding even Barcelona. Spending by tourists in Madrid was estimated (2011) at €9,546.5M, or 7.7% of the city's GDP.
The construction of Transport in Madrid , transport infrastructure has been vital to maintain the economic position of Madrid. Travel to work and other local journeys use a high-capacity metropolitan road network and a well-used public transport system.[ In terms of longer-distance transport, Madrid is the central node of the system of ''autovías'' and of the high-speed rail network (AVE), which has brought major cities such as Seville and Barcelona within 2.5 hours travel time.][ Also important to the city's economy is Madrid-Barajas Airport, the fourth largest airport in Europe.][ Madrid's central location makes it a major logistics, logistical base.][
]
Industry
As an industrial centre Madrid retains its advantages in infrastructure, as a transport hub, and as the location of headquarters of many companies. Industries based on advanced technology are acquiring much more importance here than in the rest of Spain.[ Industry contributed 7.5% to Madrid's value-added in 2010.][ However, industry has slowly declined within the city boundaries as more industry has moved outward to the periphery. Industrial Gross Value Added grew by 4.3% in the period 2003–2005, but decreased by 10% during 2008–2010.][ The leading industries were: paper, printing & publishing, 28.8%; energy & mining, 19.7%; vehicles & transport equipment, 12.9%; electrical and electronic, 10.3%; foodstuffs, 9.6%; clothing, footwear & textiles, 8.3%; chemical, 7.9%; industrial machinery, 7.3%.][
The Groupe PSA, PSA Peugeot Citroën plant is located in Villaverde district.
]
Construction
The construction sector, contributing 6.5% to the city's economy in 2010,[ was a growing sector before the recession, aided by a large transport and infrastructure program. More recently the construction sector has fallen away and earned 8% less in 2009 than it had been in 2000.][ The decrease was particularly marked in the residential sector, where prices dropped by 25%–27% from 2007 to 2012/13][ and the number of sales fell by 57%.][
]
Tourism
Madrid is the seat of the World Tourism Organization
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the United Nations specialized agency entrusted with the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. Its headquarters are in Madrid, Spain. UNWTO is the leading internati ...
(UNWTO) and the (FITUR).
In 2018, the city received million tourists (53.3% of them international tourists).p. 9 The biggest share of international tourists come from the United States, followed by Italy, France, United Kingdom and Germany.p. 10 As of 2018, the city has 793 hotels, hotel places and hotel rooms.p. 18 It also had, as of 2018, an estimated tourist apartments.p. 20
The most visited museum was the ''Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía'', with 3.8 million visitors in the sum of its three seats in 2018. Conversely, the Prado Museum had 2.8 million visitors and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (in Spanish, the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (), named after its founder), or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Prado Museum on one of the city's main boulevards. I ...
visitors.p. 32
By the late 2010s, the gentrification and the spike of tourist apartments in the city centre led to an increase in rental prices, pushing residents out of the city centre. Most of the tourist apartments in Madrid (50–54%) are located in the Centro District. In the Sol (Madrid), Sol neighborhood (part of the latter district), 3 out of 10 homes are dedicated to tourist apartments, and 2 out of 10 are listed in AirBnB. In April 2019 the plenary of the ''ayuntamiento'' passed a plan intending to regulate this practice, seeking to greatly limit the number of tourist apartments. The normative would enforce a requirement for independent access to those apartments in and out of the street. However, after the change of government in June 2019, the new municipal administration plans to revert the regulation.
International rankings
A recent study placed Madrid 7th among 36 cities as an attractive base for business. It was placed third in terms of availability of office space, and fifth for ease of access to markets, availability of qualified staff, mobility within the city, and quality of life. Its less favourable characteristics were seen as pollution, languages spoken, and political environment. Another ranking of European cities placed Madrid 5th among 25 cities (behind Berlin, London, Paris and Frankfurt), being rated favourably on economic factors and the labour market as well as transport and communication.
Media and entertainment
Madrid is an important film and television production hub, whose content is distributed throughout the Spanish-speaking world and abroad. Madrid is often seen as the entry point into the European media market for Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
n media companies, and likewise the entry point into the Latin American markets for European companies. Madrid is the headquarters of media groups such as RTVE, Radiotelevisión Española, Atresmedia, Mediaset España Comunicación, and Movistar+, which produce numerous films, television shows and series which are distributed globally on various platforms. Since 2018, the region is also home to Netflix's Madrid Production Hub, Mediapro, Mediapro Studio, and numerous others such as Viacom International Media Networks, Viacom International Studios. As of 2019, the film and television industry in Madrid employs 19,000 people (44% of people in Spain working in this industry).
RTVE, the state-owned Spanish Radio and Television Corporation is headquartered in Madrid along with all its TV and radio channels and web services (La 1 (Spanish TV channel), La 1, La 2 (Spanish TV channel), La 2, Clan (TV channel), Clan, Teledeporte, 24 Horas (Spanish TV channel), 24 Horas, TVE Internacional, Radio Nacional (Spanish radio station), Radio Nacional de España), Radio Exterior de España, Radio Clásica. The Atresmedia group (Antena 3 (Spain), Antena 3, La Sexta, Onda Cero) is headquartered in nearby San Sebastián de los Reyes. The television network and media production company, the largest in Spain, Mediaset España Comunicación (Telecinco, Cuatro (TV channel), Cuatro) maintains its headquarters in Fuencarral-El Pardo
Fuencarral-El Pardo is one of the 21 districts that form the city of Madrid, Spain.
Overview
Fuencarral-El Pardo is the district number 8 and consists of the following neighborhoods: El Pardo (81), Fuentelarreina (82), Peñagrande (83), Pilar (84) ...
district. Together with RTVE, Atresmedia and Mediaset account for nearly the 80% of share of Generalist channel, generalist TV.
The Spanish media conglomerate PRISA (Cadena SER, Los 40 Principales, M80 Radio, Cadena Dial) is headquartered in Gran Vía, Madrid, Gran Vía street in central Madrid.
Madrid (or the wider region) hosts the main TV and radio producers and broadcasters as well as the most of the major written mass media in Spain. It is home to numerous newspapers, magazines and publications, including ''ABC (newspaper), ABC'', ''El País'', ''El Mundo (Spain), El Mundo'', ''La Razón (Madrid), La Razón'', ''Marca (newspaper), Marca'', ''¡Hola!'', ''Diario AS'', ''El Confidencial'' and ''Cinco Días''. The Spanish international news agency EFE maintains its headquarters in Madrid since its inception in 1939. The second news agency of Spain is the privately owned Europa Press, founded and headquartered in Madrid since 1953.
Art and culture
Museums and cultural centres
Madrid is considered one of the top European destinations concerning art museums. Best known is the Golden Triangle of Art
The Paseo del Prado is one of the main boulevards in Madrid, Spain. It runs north–south between the Plaza de Cibeles and the Plaza del Emperador Carlos V (also known as Plaza de Atocha), with the Plaza de Cánovas del Castillo (the locati ...
, located along the Paseo del Prado
The Paseo del Prado is one of the main boulevards in Madrid, Spain. It runs north–south between the Plaza de Cibeles and the Plaza del Emperador Carlos V (also known as Plaza de Atocha), with the Plaza de Cánovas del Castillo (the locati ...
and comprising three major museums: the Prado Museum, the Reina Sofía Museum, and the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum.
The Prado Museum (''Museo del Prado'') is a museum and art gallery that features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection. It has the best collection of artworks by Goya, Velázquez, El Greco, Rubens, Titian, Hieronymus Bosch, José de Ribera, and Patinir as well as works by Rogier van der Weyden, Raphael Sanzio, Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese, Veronese, Caravaggio, Van Dyck, Albrecht Dürer, Claude Lorrain, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Murillo, and Zurbarán, among others. Some of the standout works exhibited at the museum include ''Las Meninas'', ''La maja vestida'', ''La maja desnuda'', ''The Garden of Earthly Delights'', ''The Immaculate Conception (Tiepolo), The Immaculate Conception'' and ''The Judgement of Paris (Rubens), The Judgement of Paris''.
The Reina Sofía National Art Museum (''Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía''; MNCARS) is Madrid's national museum of 20th-century art and houses Pablo Picasso's 1937 anti-war masterpiece, ''Guernica (painting), Guernica''. Other highlights of the museum, which is mainly dedicated to Spanish art, include excellent collections of Spain's greatest 20th-century masters including Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Picasso, Juan Gris, and Julio González (sculptor), Julio González. The Reina Sofía also hosts a free-access art library.
The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum (''Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza'') is an art museum that fills the historical gaps in its counterparts' collections: in the Prado's case, this includes Italian primitives and works from the English art, English, Dutch School (painting), Dutch, and German schools, while in the case of the Reina Sofía, the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection, once the second largest private collection in the world after the British Royal Collection,[Kandell, Jonathan (28 April 2002)]
"Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza, Industrialist Who Built Fabled Art Collection, Dies at 81"
. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved 7 August 2012. includes Impressionists, Expressionists, and European and American paintings from the second half of the 20th century, with over 1,600 paintings.
The National Archaeological Museum (Madrid), National Archaeological Museum of Madrid (''Museo Arqueológico Nacional'') shows archaeological finds from Prehistory to the 19th century (including Roman mosaics, Greek ceramics, Islamic art and Romanesque art), especially from the Iberian Peninsula, distributed over three floors. An iconic item in the museum is the ''Lady of Elche'', an Iberian bust from the 4th century BC. Other major pieces include the ''Lady of Baza'', the ''Lady of Cerro de los Santos'', the ''Lady of Ibiza'', the ''Bicha of Balazote'', the ''Treasure of Guarrazar'', the ''Pyxis of Zamora'', the ''Mausoleum of Pozo Moro'' or a napier's bones. In addition, the museum has a reproduction of the polychromatic paintings in the Altamira Cave.
The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando (''Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando'') houses a fine art collection of paintings ranging the 15th to 20th centuries. The academy is also the headquarters of the Madrid Academy of Art.
CaixaForum Madrid is a post-modern art gallery in the centre of Madrid, next to the Prado Museum.
The Royal Palace of Madrid
The Royal Palace of Madrid ( es, Palacio Real de Madrid) is the official residence of the Spanish royal family at the city of Madrid, although now used only for state ceremonies.
The palace has of floor space and contains 3,418 rooms. It is the ...
, a massive building characterised by its luxurious rooms, houses rich collections of armours and weapons, as well as the most comprehensive collection of Antonio Stradivari, Stradivarius in the world. The Museo de las Colecciones Reales is a future museum intended to host the most outstanding pieces of the Royal Collections part of the Patrimonio Nacional. Located next to the Royal Palace and the Almudena, Patrimonio Nacional has tentatively scheduled its opening for 2021.
The Museum of the Americas (Madrid), Museum of the Americas (''Museo de América'') is a national museum that holds artistic, archaeological, and ethnographic collections from the Americas, ranging from the Paleolithic period to the present day.
Other notable museums include the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, National Museum of Natural Sciences (the Spain's national museum of natural history), the Museo Naval de Madrid, Naval Museum, the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales (with many works of Renaissance and Baroque art, and Brussels tapestry, Brussels tapestries inspired by paintings of Rubens), the Museum of Lázaro Galdiano (housing a collection specialising in decorative arts, featuring a collection of weapons that features the sword of Pope Innocent VIII), the Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas, National Museum of Decorative Arts, the Museum of Romanticism (Madrid), National Museum of Romanticism (focused on 19th century Romanticism), the Museum Cerralbo, the Museo Nacional de Antropología (Madrid), National Museum of Anthropology (featuring as highlight a Guanches, Guanche mummy from Tenerife), the Sorolla Museum (focused in the namesake Valencian Impressionist painter, also including sculptures by Auguste Rodin, part of Sorolla's personal effects), or the Museo de Historia de Madrid, History Museum of Madrid (housing pieces related to the local history of Madrid), the Wax Museum of Madrid, the Railway Museum (Madrid), Railway Museum (located in the building that was once the Delicias Station).
Major cultural centres in the city include the Círculo de Bellas Artes, Fine Arts Circle (one of Madrid's oldest arts centres and one of the most important private cultural centres in Europe, hosting exhibitions, shows, film screenings, conferences and workshops), the Cuartel del Conde-Duque, Conde Duque cultural centre or the Matadero Madrid, a cultural complex (formerly an abattoir) located by the river Manzanares. The Matadero, created in 2006 with the aim of "promoting research, production, learning, and diffusion of creative works and contemporary thought in all their manifestations", is considered the third most valued cultural institution in Madrid among art professionals.
Literature
Madrid has been one of the great centres of Spanish literature. Some of the most distinguished writers of the Spanish Golden Age, Spanish Golden Century were born in Madrid, including Lope de Vega (author of ''Fuenteovejuna'' and ''The Dog in the Manger (play), The Dog in the Manger''), who reformed the Spanish theatre, a project continued by Calderon de la Barca (author of ''Life is a Dream''). Francisco de Quevedo, who criticised the Spanish society of his day, and author of ''El Buscón'', and Tirso de Molina, who created the character Don Juan, were born in Madrid. Miguel de Cervantes, Cervantes and Luis de Góngora, Góngora also lived in the city, although they were not born there. The Madrid homes of Lope de Vega, Quevedo, Gongora, and Cervantes still exist, and they are all in the Barrio de las Letras (Literary Neighborhood).
Other writers born in Madrid in later centuries have been Leandro Fernandez de Moratín, Mariano José de Larra, Jose de Echegaray (Nobel Prize in Literature), Ramón Gómez de la Serna, Dámaso Alonso, Enrique Jardiel Poncela and Pedro Salinas.
The "Barrio de las Letras" owes its name to the intense literary activity taking place there during the 16th and 17th centuries. Some of the most prominent writers of the Spanish Golden Age lived here, such as Lope de Vega, Francisco de Quevedo, Quevedo, and Luis de Góngora, Góngora, and it contained the Cruz and Príncipe Theatres, two of the most important in Spain. At 87 Calle de Atocha, on the northern end of the neighborhood, was the printing house of Juan de la Cuesta, where the first edition of Don Quixote was typeset and printed in 1604. Most of the literary routes are articulated along the Barrio de las Letras, where you can find scenes from novels of the Siglo de Oro and more recent works like "Bohemian Lights". Although born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spanish Realist literature, realist writer Benito Pérez Galdós made Madrid the setting for many of his stories; there is a giidebook to the Madrid of Galdós (''Madrid galdosiano'').
Madrid is home to the Real Academia Española, the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language, which governs, with statutory authority, over Spanish, preparing, publishing, and updating authoritative reference works on it. The academy's motto (''lema'', in Spanish) states its purpose: it cleans the language, stabilizes it, and gives it brilliance ("Limpia, fija y da resplendor").
Madrid is also home to another international cultural institution, the Instituto Cervantes
Instituto Cervantes (the Cervantes Institute) is a worldwide nonprofit organization created by the Spanish government in 1991. It is named after Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616), the author of ''Don Quixote'' and perhaps the most important figur ...
, whose task is the promotion and teaching of the Spanish language as well as the dissemination of the culture of Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
and Hispanic America.
The Biblioteca Nacional de España, National Library of Spain is the largest major public library in Spain. The library's collection consists of more than 26,000,000 items, including 15,000,000 books and other printed materials, 30,000 manuscripts, 143,000 newspapers and serials, 4,500,000 graphic materials, 510,000 music scores, 500,000 maps, 600,000 sound recording, 90,000 audiovisuals, 90,000 electronic documents, more than 500,000 microforms, etc.
Cuisine
The Madrilenian cuisine has received plenty of influences from other regions of Spain and its own identity actually relies in its ability to assimilate elements from the immigration.
The ''cocido madrileño'', a chickpea-based stew, is one of the most emblematic dishes of the Madrilenian cuisine. The ' is another traditional winter specialty, usually made of cattle tripes. Other offal dishes typical in the city include the ' or grilled Pig's ear (food), pig's ear. Fried squid has become a culinary specialty in Madrid, often consumed in sandwich as Squid sandwich, ''bocata de calamares''.
Other generic dishes commonly accepted as part of the Madrilenian cuisine include the ''potaje'', the ''Garlic soup, sopa de ajo'' (Garlic soup), the Spanish omelette, the ' (bream), ' (snails, sp. ''Cornu aspersum'') or the soldaditos de Pavía, the ''patatas bravas'' (consumed as snack in bars) or the ''gallina en '' (hen or chicken cooked with the yolk of boiled egg, hard-boiled eggs and almonds) to name a few.
Traditional desserts include ''French toast, torrijas'' (a variant of French toast consumed in the Easter) and '.
Nightlife
Madrid is an international hub of highly active and diverse nightlife with Bar (establishment), bars, dance bars and nightclubs staying open well past midnight. Madrid is reputed to have a "vibrant nightlife". Some of the highlight bustling locations include the surroundings of the Plaza de Santa Ana, Malasaña and La Latina (particularly near the ). It is one of the city's main attractions with tapas bars, cocktail bars, clubs, jazz lounges, live music venues and flamenco theatres. Most nightclubs liven up by 1:30 .and stay open until at least 6 .
Nightlife flourished in the 1980s while Madrid's mayor Enrique Tierno Galván (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, PSOE) was in office, nurturing the cultural-musical movement known as ''La Movida Madrileña, La Movida''. Nowadays, the Malasaña area is known for its Independent music, alternative scene.
The area of Chueca has also become a hot spot in the Madrilenian nightlife, especially for the gay population. Chueca is known as gay quarter, comparable to The Castro, San Francisco, The Castro district in San Francisco.
Bohemian culture
The city has venues for performing alternative art and expressive art. They are mostly located in the centre of the city, including in Ópera, Antón Martín, Chueca and Malasaña. There are also several festivals in Madrid, including the Festival of Alternative Art, the Festival of the Alternative Scene.
The neighbourhood of Malasaña, as well as Antón Martín and Lavapiés, hosts several bohemian cafés/galleries. These cafés are typified with period or retro furniture or furniture found on the street, a colourful, nontraditional atmosphere inside, and usually art displayed each month by a new artist, often for sale. Cafés include the retro café ''Lolina'' and bohemian cafés ''La Ida'', ''La Paca'' and ''Café de la Luz'' in Malasaña, ''La Piola'' in Huertas and ''Café Olmo'' and ''Aguardiente'' in Lavapiés.
In the neighbourhood of Lavapiés, there are also "hidden houses", which are illegal bars or abandoned spaces where concerts, poetry readings and the famous Spanish ''botellón'' (a street party or gathering that is now illegal but rarely stopped).
Classical music and opera
The National Auditorium of Music, Auditorio Nacional de Música
is the main venue for classical music concerts in Madrid. It is home to the Spanish National Orchestra, the Chamartín Symphony Orchestra and the venue for the symphonic concerts of the Community of Madrid Orchestra and the Madrid Symphony Orchestra. It is also the principal venue for orchestras on tour playing in Madrid.
The Teatro Real is the main opera house in Madrid, located just in front of the Royal Palace, and its resident orchestra is the Madrid Symphony Orchestra. The theatre stages around seventeen opera titles (both own productions and co-productions with other major European opera houses) per year, as well as two or three major ballets and several recitals.
The Teatro de la Zarzuela is mainly devoted to Zarzuela (the Spanish traditional musical theatre genre), as well as operetta and recitals. The resident orchestra of the theatre is the Community of Madrid Orchestra.
The Teatro Monumental is the concert venue of the RTVE Symphony Orchestra.
Other concert venues for classical music are the Fundación Joan March and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Auditorio 400, devoted to contemporary music.
Feasts and festivals
San Isidro
The local feast par excellence is the Day of Isidore the Laborer (''San Isidro Labrador''), the patron Saint of Madrid, celebrated on 15 May. It is a public holiday. According to tradition, Isidro was a farmworker and well manufacturer born in Madrid in the late 11th century, who lived a pious life and whose corpse was reportedly found to be Incorruptibility, incorrupt in 1212. Already very popular among the madrilenian people, as Madrid became the capital of the Hispanic Monarchy in 1561 the city council pulled efforts to promote his canonization; the process started in 1562. Isidro was beatified in 1619 and the feast day set on 15 May (he was finally canonized in 1622).
On 15 May the Madrilenian people gather around the and the (on the right-bank of the Manzanares) often dressed with checkered caps (') and kerchiefs (''safos'') characteristic of the chulapos and chulapas, dancing ''Schottische, chotis'' and ''pasodobles'', eating ''rosquillas'' and ''barquillos''.
LGBT pride
The Madrilenian LGBT Pride has grown to become the event bringing the most people together in the city each year as well as one of the most important Pride celebrations worldwide.
Madrid's Pride Parade began in 1977, in the Chueca neighbourhood, which also marked the beginning of the gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual rights movement after being repressed for forty years in a dictatorship. This claiming of LGBT rights has allowed the Pride Parade in Madrid to grow year after year, becoming one of the best in the world. In 2007, this was recognised by the European Pride Owners Association (EPOA) when Madrid hosted Europride, the Official European Pride Parade. It was hailed by the President of the EPOA as "the best Europride in history". In 2017, Madrid celebrated the 40th anniversary of their first Pride Parade by hosting the WorldPride Madrid 2017. Numerous conferences, seminars and workshops as well as cultural and sports activities took place at the festival, the event being a "kids and family pride" and a source of education. More than one million people attended the pride's central march. The main purpose of the celebration was presenting Madrid and the Spanish society in general as a multicultural, diverse, and tolerant community. The 2018 Madrid Pride roughly had 1.5 million participants.p. 34
Since Spain legalised same-sex marriage in July 2005, Madrid has become one of the largest hot spots for LGBT culture. With about 500 businesses aimed toward the LGBT community, Madrid has become a "Gateway of Diversity".
Other
Despite often being labelled as "having no tradition" by foreigners, the Carnival was popular in Madrid already in the 16th century. However, during the Francoist dictatorship the carnival was under government ban and the feasts suffered a big blow. It has been slowly recovering since then.
Other signalled days include the regional day (2 May) commemorating the Dos de Mayo Uprising (a public holiday), the feasts of San Antonio de la Florida (13 June), the feast of the Virgen de la Paloma (circa 15 August) or the day of the co-patron of Madrid, the Virgin of Almudena (9 November), although the latter's celebrations are rather religious in nature.
The most important musical event in the city is the Mad Cool festival; created in 2016, it reached an attendance of during the three-day long schedule of the 2018 edition.p. 33
Bullfighting
Madrid hosts the largest ''plaza de toros'' (bullring) in Spain, Las Ventas, established in 1929. Las Ventas is considered by many to be the world centre of bullfighting and has a seating capacity of almost 25,000. Madrid's bullfighting season begins in March and ends in October. Bullfights are held every day during the festivities of Isidore the Laborer, San Isidro (Madrid's patron saint) from mid May to early June, and every Sunday, and holiday, public holiday, the rest of the season. The style of the plaza is Neo-Mudéjar. Las Ventas also hosts music concerts and other events outside of the bullfighting season. There is great controversy in Madrid with bullfighting.
Sport
Football
Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid, founded in 1902, compete in La Liga and play their home games at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. The club is one of the most widely supported teams in the world and their supporters are referred to as ''Madridistas'' or ''Merengues'' (Meringues). Real's supporters in Madrid are mostly upper-class citizens and conservatives. The club was selected as the FIFA Club of the Century, best club of the 20th century, being the fifth Forbes list of the most valuable sports teams, most valuable sports club in the world and the List of football clubs in Spain by major honours won, most successful Spanish football club with a total of 99 official titles (this includes a record 14 UEFA Champions League, European Cups and a record 35 La Ligas).
Atlético Madrid, founded in 1903, also compete in La Liga and play their home games at the Metropolitano Stadium. The club is well-supported in the city, having the third national fan base in Spain and their supporters are referred to as ''Atléticos'' or ''Colchoneros'' (The Mattressers). Atlético draws its support mostly from working class citizens. The club is considered an UEFA coefficient#Men's club coefficient, elite European team, having won three UEFA Europa League titles and reached three List of European Cup and UEFA Champions League finals, European Cup finals. Domestically, Atletico have won eleven league titles and ten Copa del Reys.
Rayo Vallecano are the third most important football team of the city, based in the Vallecas neighborhood. They currently compete in La Liga, having secured promotion in 2021. The club's fans tend to be very left-wing and are known as ''Buccaneer, Bucaneers''.
Madrid hosted five European Cup/Champions League finals, four at the Santiago Bernabéu, and the 2019 UEFA Champions League Final, 2019 final at the Metropolitano. The Bernabéu also hosted the 1964 European Nations' Cup Final, Euro 1964 Final (which Spain national football team, Spain won) and 1982 FIFA World Cup Final.
Basketball
Real Madrid Baloncesto, founded in 1931, compete in Liga ACB and play their home games at the Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid, Palacio de Deportes (WiZink Center). Real Madrid's basketball section, similarly to its football team, is the most successful team in Europe, with a record 10 EuroLeague titles. Domestically, they have clinched a record 36 league titles and a record 28 Copa del Rey de Baloncesto, Copa del Reys.
CB Estudiantes, Club Baloncesto Estudiantes, founded in 1948, compete in Liga Española de Baloncesto, LEB Oro and also play their home games at the Palacio de Deportes (WiZink Center). Until 2021, Estudiantes was one of only three teams that have never been relegated from Spanish basketball league system, Spain's top division. Historically, its achievements include three cup titles and four league runners-up placements.
Madrid has hosted six EuroLeague Finals, European Cup/EuroLeague finals, the last two at the Palacio de Deportes. The city also hosted the final matches for the 1986 FIBA World Championship, 1986 and 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, FIBA World Cups, and the EuroBasket 2007 final (all held at the Palacio de Deportes).
Events
The main annual international event in cycle sport, cycling, the Vuelta a España (La Vuelta), is one of the three worldwide prestigious three-week-long Grand Tours, and its final stages takes place in Madrid on the first Sunday of September. In tennis, the city hosts Madrid Open (tennis), Madrid Open, both male and female versions, played on clay court. The event is part of the nine ATP Tour Masters 1000, ATP Masters 1000 and nine WTA 1000 tournaments. It is held during the first week of May in the Caja Mágica. Additionally, Madrid hosts the finals of the major tournament for men's national teams, Davis Cup, since 2019 Davis Cup, 2019.
Education
Education in Spain is free, and compulsory from 6 to 16 years. The education, education system is called LOE (''Ley Orgánica de Educación'').
Universities
Madrid is home to many public and Private university, private universities. Some of them are among the oldest in the world, and many of them are the most prestigious universities in Spain.
The Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, National Distance Education University (''Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia''; UNED) has as its mission the public service of higher education through the modality of distance education. At more than 205,000 students (2015), UNED has the largest student population in Spain and is one of the largest universities in Europe. Since 1972, UNED has sought to translate into action the principle of equal opportunity in access to higher education through a methodology based on the principles of distance learning and focused on the needs of the student.
The Complutense University of Madrid (''Universidad Complutense de Madrid''; UCM) is the second largest university in Spain after UNED and one of the oldest universities in the world. It has over 11,000 staff members and a student population of 117,000. Most of the academic staff is Spanish. It is located on two campuses, the main one of Ciudad Universitaria de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria in the Moncloa-Aravaca district, and the secondary campus of Somosaguas, located outside the city limits in Pozuelo de Alarcón and founded in 1971. The Complutense University of Madrid was founded in Alcalá de Henares, old Complutum, by Cardinal Cisneros in 1499. Nevertherless, its real origin dates back to 1293, when King Sancho IV of Castile built the General Schools of Alcalá, which would give rise to Cisnero's Complutense University. During the course of 1509–1510 five schools were already operative: ''Artes y Filosofía'' (Arts and Philosophy), ''Teología'' (Theology), ''Derecho Canónico'' (Canonical Laws), ''Letras'' (Liberal Arts) and ''Medicina'' (Medicine). In 1836, during the reign of Isabella II of Spain, Isabel II, the university was moved to Madrid, where it took the name of Central University and was located at San Bernardo Street. Subsequently, in 1927, a new University City of Madrid, University City (Ciudad Universitaria) was planned to be built in the district of Moncloa-Aravaca, in lands handed over by the King Alfonso XIII of Spain, Alfonso XIII to this purpose. The Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
turned the University City into a war zone, causing the destruction of several schools in the area, as well as the loss of part of its rich scientific, artistic and bibliographic heritage.
In 1970 the Government reformed the High Education, and the Central University became the Complutense University of Madrid. It was then when the new campus at Somosaguas was created to house the new School of Social Sciences. The old Alcalá campus was reopened as the independent UAH, University of Alcalá, in 1977. Complutense also serves to the population of students who select Madrid as their residency during their study abroad period. Students from the United States for example, might go to Madrid on a program like API (Academic Programs International) and study at Complutense for an intense immersion into the Spanish Language. After studying at the university, students return home with a fluent sense of Spanish as well as culture and diversity.
The Technical University of Madrid (''Universidad Politécnica de Madrid''; UPM), is the top technical university in Spain. It is the result of the merger of different Technical school, Technical Schools of Engineering. It shares the Ciudad Universitaria campus with the UCM, while it also owns several schools scattered in the city centre and additional campuses in the Puente de Vallecas district and in the neighbouring municipality of Boadilla del Monte.
The Autonomous University of Madrid (''Universidad Autónoma de Madrid''; UAM) was instituted under the leadership of the physicist, Nicolás Cabrera. The Autonomous University is widely recognised for its research strengths in theoretical physics. Known simply as ''La Autónoma'' by locals, its main site is the Cantoblanco Campus, located at the North of the municipality, close to its boundaries with the neighbouring municipalities of Alcobendas, San Sebastián de los Reyes and Tres Cantos.
Located on the main site are the Rectorate building and the Faculties of Science, Philosophy and Fine art, Fine Arts, Law, Economics, Economic Science and Business, Business Studies, Psychology, Higher School of Computer science, Computing Science and Engineering, and the Faculty of Teacher education, Teacher Training and Education. The UAM is considered the institution to study law in Spain, The Medical school, Medical School is sited outside the main site and beside the Hospital Universitario La Paz.
The private Comillas Pontifical University (''Universidad Pontificia Comillas''; UPC) has its rectorate and several faculties in Madrid. The private Nebrija University is also based in Madrid. Some of the big public universities headquartered in the surrounding municipalities also have secondary campuses in Madrid proper: it is the case of the Charles III University of Madrid (''Universidad Carlos III de Madrid''; UC3M) with its main site in Getafe and an educational facility in Embajadores (after signing a deal with the regional government and the city council in 2011) and the King Juan Carlos University (''Universidad Rey Juan Carlos''; URJC) having its main site in Móstoles and a secondary campus in Vicálvaro. The private Universidad Camilo José Cela, Camilo José Cela University (''Universidad Camilo José Cela''; UCJC) has a postgrade school in Chamberí.
Business schools
IE Business School (formerly Instituto de Empresa) has its main campus on the border of the Chamartín and Salamanca districts of Madrid. IE Business School recently ranked #1 in WSJ's 2009 rankings for Best MBA Programs under 2 years. It scored ahead of usual stalwarts, INSEAD and International Institute for Management Development, IMD, giving it top billing among International MBA programs. Although based in Barcelona, both IESE, IESE Business School and ESADE Business School also have Madrid campuses. These three schools are the top-ranked business schools in Spain, consistently rank among the top 20 business schools globally, and offer Master of Business Administration, MBA programs (in English or Spanish) as well as other business degrees. Madrid is a good destination for business schools and a city much desired by foreign students. The most important Spanish business schools (IESE, IE, ESADE) have invested 125 million euros in expanding their campuses in Madrid in 2020.
Other Madrid business schools and universities that have MBA programs include: EAE Business School (in English and Spanish), the Charles III University of Madrid through the ''Centro de Ampliación de Estudios'' (in English or Spanish); the Comillas Pontifical University (in Spanish only) and the Technical University of Madrid (in Spanish only).
Multilingual schools
*IES Fortuny
Transport
In 2018, Madrid banned all non-resident vehicles from its downtown areas.
Madrid is served by several roads and three modes of public surface transport, and two airports, one of them being almost two different airports. A great many important road, rail and air links converge on the capital, providing effective connections with other parts of the metropolitan region and with the rest of Spain and other parts of Europe.
Road transport
;Madrid Central
Cars (except for hybrid and electric vehicles as well as residents and guests) were banned in the Madrid Central low-emission zone in 2018. Pollution in the area dropped following the ban.[ In 2016 it was announced that Madrid will stop the use of all diesel powered cars and trucks within the next decade.
;Radial roads
]
Madrid is the centre of the most important roads of Spain. Already in 1720, the ''Reglamento General de Postas'' enacted by Philip V configurated the basis of a radial system of roads in the country.
Madrid features a number of the most prominent ''autovías'' (fast dualled highways), part of the . Clock-wise starting from the north: the Autovía A-1, A-1 (Madrid–Irún–France, French border), Autovía A-2, A-2 (Madrid–Zaragoza–Barcelona–French border), Autovía A-3, A-3 (Madrid–Valencia, Spain, Valencia), Autovía A-4, A-4 (Madrid–Córdoba, Spain, Córdoba–Sevilla–Cádiz), Autovía A-5, A-5 (Madrid–Badajoz–Portugal, Portuguese border) and the Autovía A-6, A-6 (Madrid–A Coruña). The Autovía A-42, A-42, another highway connecting Madrid to Toledo, is also part of the State Network.
The M-607 connects Madrid to the Puerto de Navacerrada. It is a fast dualled highway in its initial stretch from Madrid to Colmenar Viejo, and part of the (in relation to the concerning administration, not to the technical features of the road).
Due to the large amount of traffic, new toll highways were built parallel to the main national freeways. Their names are , R-3 motorway (Spain), R-3, R-4 motorway (Spain), R-4 and and they were intended to provide a paid alternative to the often overcrowded free radials. However, except the R-3, they do not end close to the M-30 innermost ring road, as the R-2 finishes in the M-40, the R-4 in the M-50 and the R-5 in the M-40.
;Orbital roads
Also Madrid road network includes four ring road, orbital ones at different distances from the centre.
The innermost ring-road, the M-30, is the only one with its path strictly located within the Madrid municipal limits. It is owned by the Madrid City Council and operated by Madrid Calle 30, S.A. It is the busiest Spanish road, famous for its traffic jams. A significant portion of the southern part runs underground parallel to the Manzanares, with tunnel sections of more than in length and 3 to 6 lanes in each direction.
The second ring-road, the Autopista de Circunvalación M-40, M-40 (part of the State Road Network) circles the city, while also extending to other surrounding municipalities. A NW stretch of the road runs underground, below the southern reaches of the Monte de El Pardo protected area.
The Autopista de Circunvalación M-45, M-45 partially circles the city, connecting the M-40 and M-50, passing through areas like Villaverde and Vallecas in the South-East of the municipality.
The Autopista de Circunvalación M-50, M-50, the Madrid's outer ring road, connects municipalities and cities in the metropolitan area, like Fuenlabrada, Móstoles, Getafe, Leganés in the South and Boadilla del Monte and Las Rozas de Madrid, Las Rozas in the West.
Public transport
There are four major components of public transport, with many transport hub, intermodal interchanges. The Consorcio Regional de Transportes de Madrid (CRTM) coordinates the public transport operations across multiple providers in the region, harmonizing fares for the commuter rail, rapid transit, light rail and bus transport services provided by different operators.
;Metro
The Metro is the rapid transit system serving Madrid as well as some suburbs. Founded in 1919, it underwent extensive enlargement in the second half of the 20th century. It is the second longest metro system in Europe (after London's) at . , it has 302 stations. Only the Métro of Paris has more stations. It features 13 lines; 12 of them are colour-coded and numbered 1 to 12 (Line 1 (Madrid Metro), Line 1, Line 2 (Madrid Metro), Line 2, Line 3 (Madrid Metro), Line 3, Line 4 (Madrid Metro), Line 4, Line 5 (Madrid Metro), Line 5, Line 6 (Madrid Metro), Line 6, Line 7 (Madrid Metro), Line 7, Line 8 (Madrid Metro), Line 8, Line 9 (Madrid Metro), Line 9, Line 10 (Madrid Metro), Line 10, Line 11 (Madrid Metro), Line 11 and Line 12 (Madrid Metro), Line 12), while the other one, the short ''Ramal (Madrid Metro), Ramal'' (R), links Ópera to Príncipe Pío.
;Cercanías
Cercanías Madrid is the commuter rail service used for longer distances from the suburbs and beyond into Madrid, consisting of nine lines totalling and more than 90 stations. With fewer stops inside the centre of the city they are faster than the Metro, but run less frequently. This system is connected with Metro (presently 22 stations) and Light Metro. The lines are named: C-1 (Cercanías Madrid), C-1, C-2 (Cercanías Madrid), C-2, C-3 (Cercanías Madrid), C-3, C-4 (Cercanías Madrid), C-4, C-5 (Cercanías Madrid), C-5, C-7 (Cercanías Madrid), C-7, C-8 (Cercanías Madrid), C-8, C-9 (Cercanías Madrid), C-9, C-10 (Cercanías Madrid), C-10, respectively.
;Buses
There is a dense network of bus routes, run by the municipal company Empresa Municipal de Transportes de Madrid, Empresa Municipal de Transportes (or EMT Madrid), which operates 24 hours a day; special services called "N lines" are run during nighttime. The special Airport Express Shuttle line connecting the airport with the city centre features distinctively yellow buses. In addition to the urban lines operated by the EMT, the green buses (''interurbanos'') connect the city with the suburbs. The later lines, while also regulated by the CRTM, are often run by private operators.
Almost half of all journeys in the metropolitan area are made on public transport, a very high proportion compared with most European cities.[
Madrid has 15723 taxis around all the city.
;Taxi
The taxicabs are regulated by a specific sub-division of taxi service, a body dependent of the Madrid City Council. The authorisation entails a badge for the vehicle and a license for the driver, who has to be older than 18. Since the 1970s, the fleet of taxis has remained stable roughly around vehicles, accounting for in 2014.
]
Long-distance transport
In terms of longer-distance transport, Madrid is the central node of the system of ''autovías'', giving the city direct fast road links with most parts of Spain and with France and Portugal. It is also the focal point of one of the world's three largest high-speed rail systems, ''Alta Velocidad Española'' (AVE), which has brought major cities such as Seville and Barcelona within 2.5 hours travel time. There are now of AVE track, connecting Madrid with 17 provincial capitals, and further lines are under construction.[
Also Spain business are designing new high speed trains which will be the new generation AVE like Talgo AVRIL.
Aside from the local and regional bus commuting services, Madrid is also a node for long-distance bus connections to plenty of national destinations. The in Méndez Álvaro, the busiest bus station in the country,] also features international bus connections to cities in Morocco as well as to diverse European destinations.
Airport
Madrid is also home to the Madrid-Barajas Airport, the sixth-largest airport in Europe, handling over 60 million passengers annually, of whom 70% are international travellers, in addition to the majority of Spain's air freight movements. Barajas is a major European hub, yet a largely westward facing one, specialized in the Americas, with a comparatively lighter connectivity to Asia. Madrid's location at the centre of the Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...
makes it a major logistics base. Madrid-Barajas Airport has 4 Terminals and also the terminal 4S, called Satellite terminal, this terminal is from the terminal 4 and connected by an Automated People Mover System (AMP) train.
The smaller (and older) Cuatro Vientos Airport has a dual military-civilian use and hosts several aviation schools. The Torrejón Air Base, located in the neighbouring municipality of Torrejón de Ardoz, also has a secondary civilian use aside from the military purpose.
International relations
Diplomacy
Madrid hosts List of diplomatic missions in Spain, 121 foreign embassies accredited before Spain, comprising the totality of resident embassies in the country. The headquarters of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Spain), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation and the Diplomatic School of Spain, Diplomatic School are also located in the city.
International organizations
Madrid hosts the seat of international organizations such as the United Nations' World Tourism Organization
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the United Nations specialized agency entrusted with the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. Its headquarters are in Madrid, Spain. UNWTO is the leading internati ...
(UNWTO), the Ibero-American General Secretariat
The Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB) is the permanent support body to the Pro-Tempore Secretariat in the preparation of Ibero-American Summits. Founded in 2005 in replacement of the Secretariat of Ibero-American Cooperation, its main task ...
(SEGIB), the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), the (OIJ), the (OISS), the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), the Club of Madrid and the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).
Twin towns and sister cities
Madrid has reached twin towns, sister city 'agreements' (''acuerdos'') with:
*Tokyo, Japan (1965)[
*Seoul, South Korea (1978)][
*Lisbon, Portugal (1979)][
*Panama City, Panama (1980)][
*New York City, New York, United States (1982)][
*Malabo, Equatorial Guinea (1982)][
*Bordeaux, France (1984)]
*Nouakchott, Mauritania (1986)[
*Berlin, Germany (1988)][
*Manila, Philippines (2005)][
*Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2007)][
*Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (2007)][
*Miami, United States (2014)][
Madrid has reached twin towns, sister city 'minutes' (''actas'') with:]
*Rabat, Morocco (1988)[
*Tripoli, Libya (1988)][
]
Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities
Madrid is part of the Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities establishing brotherly relations with the following cities through the issuing of a collective statement in October 1982:
*Asunción, Paraguay
*Bogotá, Colombia
*Buenos Aires, Argentina
*Caracas, Venezuela
*Guatemala City, Guatemala
*Havana, Cuba
*La Paz, Bolivia
*Lima, Peru
*Lisbon, Portugal
*Managua, Nicaragua
*Mexico City, Mexico
*Montevideo, Uruguay
*Panama City, Panama
*Quito, Ecuador
*Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
*San Jose (Costa Rica), San Jose, Costa Rica
*San Juan (Puerto Rico), San Juan, Puerto Rico
*San Salvador, El Salvador
*Santiago, Chile
*Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
*Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Other city partnerships
*Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, Greece[
*Beijing, China][
*Belgrade, Serbia][
*Brasilia, Brazil][
*Brussels, Belgium][
*Budapest, Hungary][
*Cebu City, Philippines][
*Chongqing, China][
*Davao City, Philippines][
*Guadalajara, Mexico][
*Kathmandu, Nepal][
*Lumbini, Nepal][
*Moscow, Russia][
*Paris, France][
*Prague, Czech Republic][
*Rome, Italy][
*Sofia, Bulgaria][
*Sucre, Bolivia]
*Warsaw, Poland[
*Zamboanga City, Philippines][
]
Partnerships with international organizations
*C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, C-40 Cities (C40)
*International Labour Organization (OIT)
*Ibero-American General Secretariat
The Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB) is the permanent support body to the Pro-Tempore Secretariat in the preparation of Ibero-American Summits. Founded in 2005 in replacement of the Secretariat of Ibero-American Cooperation, its main task ...
(SEGIB)
*UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
*United Nations Human Settlements Programme (ONU-HABITAT)
Notable people
Honours
*Madrid Dome in Aristotle Mountains, Graham Land, in Antarctica is named after the city.Madrid Dome.
Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, SCAR Composite Antarctic Gazetteer.
See also
*C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group
*Madrid Conference of 1991
*Mayor of Madrid
*List of tallest buildings in Madrid
*OPENCities
*List of films set in Madrid
References
Footnotes
Citations
Bibliography
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External links
*
Official website of Madrid on tourism and business
*[https://www.postalcodigo.com/madrid Postal codes in Madrid]
{{Authority control
Madrid,
Capitals in Europe
Municipalities in the Community of Madrid
Populated places established in the 9th century
9th-century establishments in Spain