Calle de Alcalá is among the longest streets in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. It starts at the

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

and goes on for , to the northeastern outskirts of the city. Henry David Inglis described it in 1837 as "long, of superb width, and flanked by a splendid range of unequal buildings".

History and landmarks

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

Alcalá de Henares Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish municipality of the Community of Madrid. Housing is primarily located on the right (north) bank of the Henares River, Henares. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated Municip ...

(from which it takes the name) and continued to Aragón; today, this route is covered by the A-2 motorway. Along this street it is possible to find landmarks such as Banco Bilbao Vizcaya at number 16, the former Alcalá 20 discothèque at number 20, Edificio Metrópolis, the

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

at number 23,

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

, Plaza de Cibeles,

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

, the Spanish Ministry of Education, 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 fi ...

HQ building, the Bank of Spain building, and Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas.

In popular culture

'' Por la calle de Alcalá'' was a popular '' cuplé'' describing a florist selling tuberoses on the street.

Notable buildings

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alcala, calle de Streets in Madrid