CaixaForum Madrid

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CaixaForum Madrid
Paseo del Prado
Madrid, September 2022

“CaixaForum Madrid is a cultural center in Madrid, Spain. Located in Paseo del Prado in a former power station, it is owned by the not-for-profit banking foundation ‘la Caixa’. The art center opened its doors in 2008 and it hosts temporary art exhibitions and cultural events. It was designed by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and built by Ferrovial between 2001 and 2007. It was an old power station called Central Del Mediodía, from the 1900s. The Vertical Garden by Patrick Blanc at the square is also well-known.” (CaixaForum Madrid, Wikipedia)

Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

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Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
Calle de Santa Isabel
Madrid, September 2022

“The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Queen Sofía National Museum Art Centre; MNCARS) is Spain's national museum of 20th-century art. The museum was officially inaugurated on September 10, 1992, and is named for Queen Sofía. It is located in Madrid, near the Atocha train and metro stations, at the southern end of the so-called Golden Triangle of Art (located along the Paseo del Prado and also comprising the Museo del Prado and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza). The museum is mainly dedicated to Spanish art. Highlights of the museum include excellent collections of Spain's two greatest 20th-century masters, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí. The most famous masterpiece in the museum is Picasso's 1937 painting Guernica. Along with its extensive collection, the museum offers a mixture of national and international temporary exhibitions in its many galleries, making it one of the world's largest museums for modern and contemporary art. In 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, it attracted 1,643,108 visitors, up 32 percent from 2020, but well below 2019 attendance. In 2021 It ranked eighth on the list of most-visited art museums in the world.” (Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Wikipedia)

Fuente de Cibeles

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Fuente de Cibeles (Fountain of Cybele) by Ventura Rodríguez, 1782
Plaza de Cibeles
Madrid, September 2022

“The Fountain of Cybele is a neoclassical fountain in Madrid, Spain. It lies on the centre of the Plaza de Cibeles. The sculptural group in its centre represents Cybele, a Phrygian earth and fertility deity. It has become one of the icons of the city. Designed and commissioned by Ventura Rodríguez in 1780, the sculptural group—made of white marble from Montesclaros—is a work by Francisco Gutiérrez (goddess) and Roberto Michel (the lions). Crowned by a mural crown, the goddess rides a chariot pulled by two lions, representing Atalanta and Hippomenes. It was moved to its current location and orientation in 1895. It has a maximum water capacity of 278 m3. The fountain is the site where Real Madrid's supporters and players gather to celebrate the team's trophies as well as partakers of the successes of the Spain national football team. The goddess lost a hand in 1994, following a celebration of a victory of the Spanish national team. The goddess lost again one of her hands on 21 September 2002. The Fountain of Cybele has a replica, the namesake Fuente de Cibeles, located in Mexico City and inaugurated in 1980.” (Fountain of Cybele, Wikipedia)

Rana de la fortuna

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Rana de la fortuna (Lucky Frog) by Eladio de Mora, 2014
Paseo de Recoletos
Madrid, September 2022

“Lucky Frog (Rana de la fortuna) is a bronze sculpture by the Spanish artist dEmo, installed in Madrid, Spain, in 2014, outside the Casino Gran Madrid on the Paseo de Recoletos. The sculpture is 5 metres (16 ft) tall and weighs 2,000 kilograms (4,400 lb). The work was commissioned for the opening of the casino, and was a gesture of thanks to the city for restoring legal gambling after 90 years. It was unveiled on 3 April 2014 by journalist Carme Chaparro and actor Paco León. The frog is a sign of good fortune in Feng shui and its underbelly is engraved with symbols of good luck from world cultures. The 34 symbols include several numbers as well as pictures including a scarab artifact, a four-leaf clover, the peace sign and various currency symbols and religious signs. The patina, the protective coating on the metal, was applied by specialist Juan Manuel González. Its turquoise green is also considered lucky.” (Lucky Frog, Wikipedia)

Torres Blancas

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Torres Blancas by Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza, 1969
Avenida de América
Madrid, September 2022

“Torres Blancas is a mixed use concrete building in Madrid, Spain, designed in 1961 by Spanish architect Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza. The structure is a noted example of Spanish Organicism. Spanish industrialist Juan Huarte commissioned the project which initially included two residential towers.” (Torres Blancas, Wikipedia)

Palacio de Cibeles

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Palacio de Cibeles by Antonio Palacios and Joaquín Otamendi, 1919
Plaza de Cibeles
Madrid, September 2022

“Cibeles Palace (Palacio de Cibeles), formally known as Palacio de Comunicaciones (Palace of Communications) and Palacio de Telecomunicaciones (Palace of Telecommunications) until 2011, is a complex composed of two buildings with white facades and is located in one of the historical centres of Madrid, Spain. Formerly the city's main post office and telegraph and telephone headquarters, it is now occupied by Madrid City Council, serving as the city hall, and the public cultural centre CentroCentro.” (Cybele Palace, Wikipedia)

Palacio de Cristal

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Palacio de Cristal (Glass Palace) by Ricardo Velázquez Bosco, 1887
Paseo de Cuba
Parque del Retiro
Madrid, September 2022

“The Palacio de Cristal (Glass Palace) is a conservatory located in Madrid's Buen Retiro Park. The Palacio de Cristal, in the shape of a Greek cross, is made almost entirely of glass set in an iron framework on a brick base, which is decorated with ceramics. Its cupola makes the structure over 22 metres high. When it was erected, glass and iron construction on a large scale was already to be seen in Madrid at Delicias station (1880), the work of a French architect; however, the curved architecture of the Palacio de Cristal is more comparable to the techniques pioneered by the British architects Joseph Paxton (who was responsible for London's Crystal Palace) and Decimus Burton (who was responsible for the Palm House at Kew Gardens). The Palacio de Cristal was, alongside the Pabellón Central, one of the main venues of the 1887 Philippines Exposition. The cast-iron frame was manufactured in Bilbao. The structure was designed in a way that would allow it to be re-erected on another site (as happened to the equivalent building in London). However, the building has remained on the original site, next to a lake, and has been restored to its original appearance. It is no longer used as a greenhouse, and is currently used for art exhibits.” (Palacio de Cristal del Retiro, Wikipedia)

Accidente aéreo

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“Accidente aéreo” (Aerial Accident) by Miguel Angel Ruiz, 2006
Calle de los Milaneses
Madrid, September 2022

“The sculptor, Miguel Angel Ruiz, amicably explained to us that his work was neither a Fallen Angel nor Icarus, nor anything of the sort. ‘The work is called Aerial Accident’, he said.  ‘The statue is that of a winged Being who has been flying over the Peninsula since time immemorial, for 10,000 years. When he returns after a flight, he flies backwards, looking up at the sky and frolicking with the clouds. Since in olden times there were only wide meadows, he unexpectedly arrives in modern Madrid with its skyscrapers and accidentally hits one of its buildings.’ The bronze statue, with a copper patina, weighs more than 300 kilograms (660 pounds). When it was installed, in January 2006, it had to be positioned with a huge crane from the street and was anchored with great care, since it can sometimes be exposed to high winds and bad weather. The statue was commissioned by the owners of the building, who are friends and clients of the artist. Though the statue may not be Lucifer, it is certainly a curiosity worth seeing.” (Madrid’s Fallen Angels, Madrid Metropolitan)

Torre PwC

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Torre PwC by Carlos Rubio Carvajal and Enrique Álvarez-Sala Walter, 2008
Cuatro Torres Business Area
Paseo de la Castellana
Madrid, September 2022

“The Torre PwC, formerly Torre Sacyr Vallehermoso, is a 52-floor, 236-metre-tall (774 ft) skyscraper, completed in 2008, located in Madrid, Spain. Torre PwC is one of four buildings in the Cuatro Torres Business Area. It was designed by Carlos Rubio Carvajal and Enrique Álvarez-Sala Walter and was built by Sacyr Sau. It houses the five-star hotel Eurostars Madrid Tower, which occupies 60% of the tower, with rooms between floors 6 and 27 and at its upper part, a two-storey dining room offering a panoramic view of the city.” (Torre PwC, Wikipedia)

Plaza de Castilla

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Puerta de Europa (Gate of Europe) by Philip Johnson & John Burgee, 1996
Caja Madrid Obelisk by Santiago Calatrava, 2009
Plaza de Castilla
Madrid, September 2022

“The Gate of Europe towers (Puerta de Europa), also known as KIO Towers (Torres KIO), are twin office buildings near the Plaza de Castilla in Madrid, Spain. The towers have a height of 114 m (374 ft) and have 26 floors. They were constructed from 1989 to 1996. The Puerta de Europa is the second tallest twin towers in Spain after the Torres de Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.” (Gate of Europe, Wikipedia)

“The Caja Madrid Obelisk (Spanish: Obelisco de la Caja, Columna de Calatrava or Obelisco de Calatrava) is an obelisk designed by Santiago Calatrava located in the Plaza de Castilla in Madrid, Spain. The monument, intended to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Caja Madrid, was donated by the saving bank to the city of Madrid.” (Caja Madrid Obelisk, Wikipedia)

Calle de Alcalá

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Street musicians
Calle de Alcalá
Madrid, September 2022

“Calle de Alcalá is among the longest streets in Madrid. It starts at the Puerta del Sol and goes on for 11 kilometres (6.8 mi), 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’.” (Calle de Alcalá, Wikipedia)

Catedral de la Almudena

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Catedral de la Almudena (Almudena Cathedral)
Plaza de la Armería
Madrid, September 2022

“Almudena Cathedral (Santa María la Real de La Almudena) is a Catholic church in Madrid, Spain. It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madrid. The cathedral was consecrated by Pope John Paul II in 1993. When the capital of Spain was transferred from Toledo to Madrid in 1561, the seat of the Church in Spain remained in Toledo and the new capital had no cathedral. Plans for a cathedral in Madrid dedicated to the Virgin of Almudena were discussed as early as the 16th century but even though Spain built more than 40 cities overseas during that century, plenty of cathedrals and fortresses, the cost of expanding and keeping the Empire came first and the construction of Madrid's cathedral was postponed. Making the cathedral the largest that the world had ever seen was then a priority. All other main Spanish cities had centuries-old cathedrals, and Madrid had its own old churches, but the construction of Almudena only began in 1879. The cathedral seems to have been built on the site of a medieval mosque that was destroyed in 1083 when Alfonso VI reconquered Madrid. Francisco de Cubas, the Marquis of Cubas, designed and directed the construction in a Gothic revival style. Construction was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, and the site lay abandoned until 1950, when Fernando Chueca Goitia adapted the plans of de Cubas to a baroque exterior to match the grey and white façade of the Palacio Real that stands directly opposite. The cathedral was completed in 1993, when it was consecrated by Pope John Paul II.” (Almudena Cathedral, Wikipedia)

Estación de Madrid Atocha

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Estación de Madrid Atocha (Madrid Atocha railway station)
Plaza del Emperador Carlos V
Madrid, September 2022

“Madrid Atocha (Spanish: Estación de Madrid Atocha), also named Madrid Puerta de Atocha, is the first major railway station in Madrid. It is the largest station serving commuter trains (Cercanías), regional trains from the south and southeast, intercity trains from Navarre, Cádiz and Huelva (Andalusia) and La Rioja, and the AVE high speed trains from Girona, Tarragona and Barcelona (Catalonia), Huesca and Zaragoza (Aragon), Sevilla, Córdoba, Málaga and Granada (Andalusia), Valencia, Castellón and Alicante (Levante Region). These train services are run by Spain's national rail company, Renfe. As of 2019, this station has daily services to Marseille, France.” (Madrid Atocha railway station, Wikipedia)

Monumento a Miguel de Cervantes

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Monument to Miguel de Cervantes, 1929
Plaza de España
Madrid, September 2022

“The Monument to Miguel de Cervantes is an instance of public art located in Madrid, Spain. Erected on the centre of the Plaza de España, it is dedicated to Miguel de Cervantes, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language. The monument incorporates a stone monolith with several statues (including Cervantes') and a detached bronze sculptural group representing Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. In 1915, a year before the 300th anniversary of the writer's death, a public contest was announced in order to award the project. The announcement was met with concern among certain reviewers. The winning project was awarded to a dark horse proposal by Rafael Martínez Zapatero and Lorenzo Coullaut Valera that had been derided as overly literary, detail-oriented and anecdotal. The jury's decision was criticised via an open letter signed by at least 109 public figures, including, to name a few, Ramón del Valle Inclán, Alejandro Ferrant, Emilio Carrere, Daniel Zuloaga, Tomás Borrás and Ramón Gómez de la Serna.” (Monument to Miguel de Cervantes, Wikipedia)

Pasarela de Arganzuela

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Pasarela de Arganzuela (Arganzuela Footbridge) by Dominique Perrault, 2011
Madrid Río park
Madrid, September 2022

“The Arganzuela Footbridge is a pedestrian bridge in Madrid, Spain. It partially occupies the land released by the burying of the M-30. Designed by Dominique Perrault, it cost about €13.6M. Building works started in February 2010. The footbridge actually consists of two separate metal cones, one passing over the Madrid Río park while the other crosses over the Manzanares, nearly meeting at an elevated middle point serving as lookout of the Madrid Río park. The combined structure is 278 m long. Perrault employs plate rolling for the curved steel plates along the bridge span. It was opened on 24 March 2011, although initially only for diurnal usage.” (Arganzuela Footbridge, Wikipedia)