The Puerta del Sol in Madrid

The Puerta del Sol is the most central square of the Spanish capital and it is, since 1950, called Kilometer Zero Spanish radial road. It is a popular location for locals, especially the last night of the year, during which a large crowd gathers tuna this square to welcome the new year.

One of the most prominent buildings located in the Plaza del Sol is the Casa de Correos, the oldest facade, which has a legendary clock tower was built and donated in the nineteenth century by José Rodríguez de Losada. The Puerta del Sol is a meeting place, a place of transit between different parts of Madrid and sightseeing must for those who come rent an apartment in Madrid.

On the history of the Gate

Originally, the Puerta del Sol was one of the entrances to the fence surrounding Madrid in the fifteenth century. This fence around the perimeter collecting medieval slums that had been developed outside the walls, walls around the XII century Christian. The name of the gate from a sun that graced the entrance, placed there by the door be oriented towards the east. The Church of Good Success and Real San Felipe gave him some recognition and reputation to the site.

Although from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century the gate was important as a meeting place, was not a defined period, such as the Plaza Mayor, and occupied half of the current space. The Post Office, one of the most emblematic buildings, was built by French architect Jaime Marquet between 1766 and 1768. This building has hosted various official institutions: during the Franco dictatorship was the Interior Ministry of the Interior and General Directorate of State Security, and currently hosts the President of the Community of Madrid. The creation of the plaza, in fact, was due to the demolition of some houses in the area to enhance the same Post Office when he became Minister of the Interior in 1847.

Among the most prominent buildings are demolished the convent of San Felipe and Our Lady of Victories. Finally, the current appearance of the square took place between 1857 and 1862, when Lucio del Valle, Juan Rivera and Joseph Morer carried out the reform of the plaza. This kept the alignment of the Post Office on one side and residential buildings constructed with uniform facades defining a semicircular space.

Manuel Herrero Palacios in 1959 incorporated a landscaped garden and fountains in the center of the square, and a few years later, in 1986, the architects Antonio Riviere, Javier Ortega and Antonio González Capital introduced a new reform that gave him more improtancia to pedestrian area. The streetlights installed on the occasion of the renovations were popularly nicknamed suppositories and caused much controversy due to its modern design. They were eventually replaced by current style lamps "Fernandina", although the two central poles suppositories Square survived several more years.

Between 2004 and 2009 were carried out construction of a transport interchange, which opened on June 27, 2009, which bring commuter rail network to Sol underground station The station has been converted by its dimensions in the largest the world with 28 m deep, 207 m long and 20 m wide. The hall's 7500 m² and intercom entry, similar to an igloo, has once again changed the face of the Puerta del Sol

Representative buildings and ornaments

A portion of the plate at Kilometer Zero in front of the Post Office, there are other elements that have become myths in this historic square. Excel, especially, the statue of the Bear and the Strawberry Tree, a popular meeting point for the locals, which was erected in 1967 opposite the building of Tio Pepe, later (in 2009) moved to the mouth of the Calle del Carmen. Also relevant are two plates on the front of the Post Office, one dedicated to the heroes of the popular uprising of May 2 and the other victims of the attacks of March 11, 2004 and those who worked the day of the disaster.

On the other hand, the Statue of Mariblanca, reproduction of an old and popular sculpture that adorned the fountain that existed there also is a representative monument, like the neon billboard Tio Pepe wines created by Luis Perez Solero Burgales , which is the latest announcement that remains of the many that could be found for at least a century in the Plaza del Sol

Finally, in 1994 settled the equestrian statue of Carlos III, one of the last important milestones of this site. To choose your site was called for a popular referendum, which took place in one's Puerta del Sol is a bronze reproduction of Miguel? Angel Rodriguez and Edward Stride of the work of Juan Pascual de Mena preserved in the Royal Academy Fine Arts of San Fernando. The inscription on the pedestal spiral around briefly describes the history of the reign of Carlos III. The monument is nine meters high and, as a curiosity, he installed an electronic device to ward off the pigeons that rested on him continually.