Sightseeing in Madrid - City Guide

The Calle de Alcala begins in the Puerta del Sol and is the longest street in Madrid, and maybe in Europe, with more than 600 house numbers. It crosses Madrid from east to west. Along its route its character changes. The first part, the historical street, is the one that interests us here.

Along this street we can see several high buildings. They were the first “skyscrapers” in Madrid. To build them they asked an arquitect from Chicago for advice. But the Spanish arquitects were not convinced that these buildings would be safe, this is why these buildings always have a broad base and end with a kind if tower.

The building of the Academia de Bellas Artes (Academy of Fine Arts) was a palace. Carlos III bought it to house the academy here. All its members have donated works to it.

In front of the Casino is the building of Banesto, which was the first American bank in Spain. On the facade we can see several elephants.

The Casino was always just for a very exclusive circle. Some years ago, to become a member one had to pay about six thousand euros. Nowadays the cafeteria is open to the public.

Carlos III decided that the center of the city could not be changed so he expanded Madrid towards the area that is nowadays the Paseo de la Castellana (Castellana Avenue).

The area between the Cibeles and Neptune was dedicated to leisure. The inhabitants promenaded to see and to be seen. In the middle was a line of pine trees. The women were always accompanied by a chaperone, so they could not start any kind of relationship with their suitors. It was decided that the chaperone had to walk five pines behind.
Many buildings in this area were old palaces. What is now the Headquarter of the Army used to be the palace of the Duchess of Alba, the Palacio de Buenavista. Afterwards it belonged to Manuel Godoy who asked Goya to paint a nude woman, the maja desnuda for his private lounge there. It was the first painting of a nude woman seen from the front. As Goya thought that this could cause him some problems he painted another building with a dressed woman, the maja vestida. It is said that this painting was in front of the other one. There was a special device that made it go up, so that the maja desnuda could be seen.