Paseo del Prado Walk

The Palace of Villahermosa sits at number eight on the Paseo del Prado, identifiable by its elegant, neoclassical facade that maintains the refined scale of a nineteenth-century aristocratic residence. Originally built for the Dukes of…

The Neptune Fountain sits in the center of the Plaza de Cánovas del Castillo, a circular monument carved from white marble from Montesclaros. It features the Roman god of the sea standing atop a shell-shaped chariot, which is pulled by two…

The Museo Nacional del Prado occupies a long, symmetrical neoclassical building designed by architect Juan de Villanueva in seventeen eighty-five. You can identify it by its prominent columned façade facing the Paseo del Prado, a site that…

The Real Jardín Botánico is defined by a series of three terraced levels that rise in steps, separating thousands of plants according to their scientific family. Founded in seventeen fifty-five by King Ferdinand the Sixth, the garden…

CaixaForum Madrid is defined by a heavy brick building that appears to float above the ground. This visual trick was achieved by the architects Herzog and de Meuron, who removed the original stone base of the nineteenth-century Central…

The Plaza del Emperador Carlos V is a large, rectangular roundabout where many of the city’s major thoroughfares converge, including the Paseo del Prado and the Calle de Atocha. Its central feature is the Fuente de la Alcachofa, or…

The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is identifiable by three external glass and steel elevator towers that cling to the face of its otherwise austere, eighteenth-century stone walls. Originally commissioned by King Ferdinand the…