Parque del Emir Mohamed I is defined by the stone and red brick remnants of a ninth-century Islamic wall that border its grounds. This space is named for the Umayyad emir who founded the city of Mayrit, the early settlement that eventually…
Moorish Madrid Origins
This route traces surviving fragments of the original 9th-century Arab city walls, Mudéjar brick bell towers, and quiet medieval plazas, revealing the Islamic foundations of Madrid long before it became Spain's capital.
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1. Parque del Emir Mohamed I
2. St Nicholas' Church, Madrid
The Church of San Nicolás de los Servitas is marked by a square brick tower featuring Mudejar-style arches, which rises distinctly above the surrounding buildings in the old part of the city. This tower, dating back to the twelfth century,…
3. Plaza de la Villa
Plaza de la Villa contains a collection of buildings from three distinct centuries, arranged around a central bronze statue of the Spanish admiral Álvaro de Bazán. The space functioned as the municipal seat of Madrid for centuries,…
4. Plaza de la Morería
Plaza de la Morería is a small, quiet square identified by its unassuming appearance and its history as the heart of the medieval Muslim quarter. It sits between the streets of Caños Viejos, Granado, and the street of Morería itself.…
5. Plaza de la Paja
Plaza de la Paja is defined by its irregular, sloping ground, a shape that marks it as one of the few surviving fragments of medieval urban layout in Madrid. Before the sprawling Plaza Mayor was built in the fifteenth century, this square…
6. Museo de San Isidro. Los Orígenes de Madrid
The Museo de San Isidro, also known as the Museum of the Origins of Madrid, is recognizable by a sixteenth-century Renaissance courtyard and a chapel built in the seventeenth century. The museum occupies the site where San Isidro, the…
7. Church of San Pedro el Viejo
The Church of San Pedro el Viejo is marked by a tall, red-brick bell tower that stands out for its Mudéjar style. Built in the fourteenth century, this tower features simple decorative brickwork and small horseshoe arches that reflect the…