Royal Palace and Gardens

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,…

The Catedral de Santa María la Real de la Almudena is defined by its unusual north-south orientation, a decision made to align the building with the Royal Palace standing directly opposite. While most cathedrals face east, this structure…

The Royal Palace of Madrid presents a colossal, symmetrical façade of grey granite and white limestone, stretching over one hundred thirty-five thousand square meters. It is the largest royal palace in Europe, containing over three…

The Plaza de Oriente is recognizable for the bronze statue of King Philip the Fourth at its center, which depicts the horse balanced entirely on its hind legs. This square sits between the Royal Palace of Madrid to the west and the Teatro…

The Teatro Real is defined by its massive, flat-faced hexagonal structure sitting directly across from the Royal Palace. It opened in eighteen fifty after thirty-three years of intermittent construction, commissioned by King Ferdinand the…

The Sabatini Gardens sit against the northern façade of the Royal Palace, defined by a strict, neoclassical layout of geometric boxwood hedges and symmetrical tree alignments. The site consists of three terraced levels that descend toward…

The Plaza de España is a sprawling square anchored by a central monument to the writer Miguel de Cervantes. Its most recognizable feature is a stone monolith that rises above bronze statues of the knight Don Quixote and his squire, Sancho…

The Temple of Debod is a jagged silhouette of ancient stone pylons rising from the grass of the Parque del Oeste. It is an authentic Nubian temple dating to the second century before the common era, when King Adikhalamani of Meroë ordered…