MadridTourist.Info is a website about Madrid Tourism (Spain),
with information of culture, leisure, famous attractions and monuments, events, itineraries, metro and airport maps.
Is the capital and largest city of Spain, located in the centre of the peninsula plain 646 meters above sea level and spans a total of 698 km².
The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million (2009); the entire population of the metropolitan area.
As the capital city, a cosmopolitan city, a business center, seat of government, Spanish Parliament, and residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is also the political centre of Spain. Madrid is characterized by intense cultural and artistic activity and a very lively nightlife.
According to legend the original name of the city was "Ursaria" ("land of bears" in Latin),
due to the high number of these animals that were found in the adjacent forests,
which, together with the arbutus ("madroño" in Spanish),
have been the emblem/symbol (The Bear and the Strawberry Tree) of the city from the Middle Ages.
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Madrid goes wild each May in honour of the city's patron Saint, San Isidro, with a traditional round of partying, feasting and dancing in the streets that goes on for about 10 days around the designated saint's day, 15 May. And regular bullfights in " Las Ventas" Bullring.
Arco is Europe's largest contemporary art fair and turns Madrid into the centre of the international art world during its five-day run each year.
Festimad is a Spain's rock music event of the year, Festimad hosts well known and up and coming rock bands for a two-day party that attracts thousands of people from all over Spain. Held at the Butarque Leganes Stadium just outside Madrid.
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• Royal Palace
• Santa Cruz Palace
• Royal Theater
• Almudena Cathedral
• Debod Temple
• Prado Museum
• Queen Sofia Museum
• Fine Arts Museum
• Archaeological Museum
• Puerta del Sol
• Gran Via Street
• Plaza Mayor Square
• Plaza España Square
• Santa Ana Square
• Cibeles Square
• Alcala Gate
• Victory Arch
• Atocha Station
• City Hall
• Bullfighting Las Ventas
• Botanical Garden
• Buen Retiro Park
• Casa de Campo Park
• El Rastro Market
• AZCA Buildings
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Top Attractions: The Royal Palace of Madrid
The Royal Palace is not the official residence of His Majesty the King of Spain, that is the Zarzuela Palace outside Madrid,
though official banquets, state ceremonies and other important state events do take place here.
The origin of the palace dates from the ninth century when the Muslim kingdom of Toledo built a defense that was later used by the kings of Castilla, which in the sixteenth century, they built the old Palace.
The Royal Palace, is built on the site of the old Alcázar which was destroyed by fire on
Christmas Eve 1734. King Felipe V decided to build a palace for his Borbon dynasty.
The Italian Filippo Juvara was selected to design the new palace and his plans
were to create a grand palace along the lines of France’s Versailles.
All construction was vaulted in stone and brick, not wood, so that any fire could destroy it.
The works were carried out between 1738 and 1755, Carlos III established his residence there in 1764.
For interior decoration, rich materials were used: spanish marble, stucco, mahogany doors and windows and important works of art, particularly frescoes by leading artists of the moment as Giaquinto, Tiepolo and Mengs and his Spanish followers Bayeu and Maella.
The decoration of the Royal Palace of Madrid has been changing over time according to the different artistic styles of the moment.
It has a central interior courtyard, whilst another courtyard – the "Plaza de Armas" on the south side – acts as the principal entrance to the palace.
This courtyard looks out on to the Almudena Cathedral. The Palace occupies 13 hectares, has 870 windows, 240 balconies and 44 staircases.
Madrid's Royal Palace of is considered by many to be one of the finest palaces in Europe.
