History is directly related to the future. For Madrid, its past is a never-ending source of experiences. You cannot imagine this city without the bohemians of the Belle Epoque or the poets of the Golden Century; the same way, you cannot explain the last 500 years of Western history without the influence of the city of Madrid.
The origins: Madrid is Magerit
Magerit, “land of water”. Name with which the Arabs, in the 9th century, called this settlement on a plateau, near Guadarrama mountains, which Phillip II would choose to set up his Courts in the 16th century. It’s surprising to find out that the water, since Arabic times, has been a conducting important element on the development of our city, a land of plentiful streams and underground waters.
Between the Arab founding and the establishment of the Royal Courts, the religious and cultural diversity is an example of the open character of the Madrilenians: the Jewish quarter and the religious history, the discovery of the sculpture of the Virgin of La Almudena and the life and miracles of Saint Isidore, both Patron Virgin and Saint of the city.
With the Habsburgs Dinasty, it was time for the protagonism of the city in the Spanish history, the Monarchy and that Empire “where the sun never set”, around the Royal Alcazar, built on the land where the Royal Palace is placed nowadays, and the Alcazar of Buen Retiro, of which nowadays we preserve its gardens.
After the Habsburgs, there was the Borbons, the fire at the Alcazar and the building of the Royal Palace. There was Charles III and his bridges, hospitals, parks, fountains (Neptune, Cybele, Apollo), scientific buildings (Botanical Gardens, Prado Museum, the Astronomy Observatory), the sewer systems (water again…). These were the works of a urban king that has been called “the best Mayor of Madrid”. Exciting origins of the history of a city.
Madrid in the Golden Century
The truest Madrid is the Madrid of the Golden Century. A century which is two centuries, the 16th and the 17th, because there wasn’t enough place for so much creativity in just one. It’s the Madrid of the Habsburgs, of Renaissance and Baroque, of the Literary Quarter, of the Town and the Courts. It’s the Century, the centuries, of Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Quevedo and Calderón de la Barca. Of the gossip and the open-air theatres where comedies were performed. The Madrid of the now cinematographic heroe Alatriste.
It’s the Madrid of Velázquez and his riding Phillip III and Phillip IV. Of the Meninas, cultural symbol of the city since Velázquez painted them for the rooms of the old Royal Alcázar. It’s the Madrid of the cultural, artistic, economical and political flowering. As said, it’s the most Madrid.
Bohemian Madrid
Madrid, 1890-1935. All kinds of artists, painters, musicians, poets, sometimes damned people, used to meet in the cafés to discuss about trends and vanguards, showing their revolutionary ideas about what art, culture and politics is and what it should be. It’s the “Silver Age” of the Madrilenian culture in a “hungry and brilliant” Madrid, as Valle-Inclán wrote.
Earlier, there was Galdós and his “National Episodes”, chronicler of the 19th-century Madrid, far from the splendour of the Madrid of the Habsburgs, hurt by the Napoleonic invasion. Later, there was the Generation of the 27 and the Students’ Residence, the first great cultural centre of the 20th century, the source of modernity in Spain, where García Lorca, Dalí and Buñuel lived. This is the essencial Madrid to understand the literature, painting and cinema of the Europe in war.
The transformation: the pulse of the history
The Spanish political transition, its economical and cultural transformation, that new freedom without hate, the consolidation of the democracy, the new reputation of our country internationally… All these events have turned Madrid into an example of coexistence and social development. A city that, in less than 20 years, has been the setting of so many and so deep changes, and that has adapted its pulse to the new era that the Spanish society has been living since 1975.
Protagonism: important in so many important things
June 12th, 1985, the Joining Treaty of Spain to the European Community is signed in Madrid; 1991, Madrid hosts the Peace Conference on the Middle East; July 23rd and 24th, 1992, Second Summit of Iberian-American Heads of State and Government takes place in Madrid; 1992, Madrid is the European Culture Capital; July 11th, 1982, the finals of the FIFA World Cup takes place in Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Real Madrid’s temple.
These are dates that show the growing prestige and protagonism of our city in the international scene. A city that houses important international organisms, loyally showing the place that Madrid has in the world context.
La Movida: those wonderful 80s
Madrid, late seventies and early eighties. Somebody called Madrid “the most exciting city in the world”. You cannot expect less. The new winds of freedom brought a creative impulse that nobody with a young spirit could avoid. Madrid became home to a cultural trend that was difficult to define, because it didn’t have limits: it had thousands of different sources, it took the tradition to turn it upsidedown…
Madrid exported La Movida to the whole world through music, cinema, painting, photography, nightlife… It was a cheeky and unprejudiced cultural trend that lived in a thousand pubs, in a thousand homes, in artists’ workshops, on the stages… even on television. Many of those emerging young people are now acclaimed artists that made up the Spanish 21st-century culture: Pedro Almodóvar, Olvido Gara “Alaska”, Guillermo Pérez Guillalta, Alberto García Alix, Ouka Lele, Antonio Vega…
Surroundings: on a day trip
The charm of the city of Madrid goes beyond its borders. Only two hours (or less) away, you can find nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Alcalá de Henares, Toledo, Cuenca, Ávila, Salamanca, Cordoba, El Escorial Monastery and Aranjuez. And just a few kilometres away, you can enjoy the wonderful landscapes of Guadarrama Mountain Range and even enjoy the winter sports in its famous sky resorts.
Madrid is a destination for eveyone: Madrilenians, Spaniards and foreigners. It’s the city in Southern Europe which is better connected to the rest of European capitals and the whole world, especially to Latin America and Northern Africa. Did you know that Madrid-Barajas Airport has frequent flights to 34 national and 153 international destinations?
The unknown: history all around
Knowing mysterious stories, discovering the reason of some names, listening to old gossips… Legends get you closer to the history of Madrid. Did you know that the bear in the coat of arms of the city is actually a female bear, which represents the Little Bear, the Ursa Minor?
Find out why the Madrilenians are called cats, why it is said that “who doesn’t walk along Calle de la Pasa doesn’t get married”… Every street and every spot of the old Madrid has inspired stories and legends that will surprise you.
Contrasts: facts and opinions
In 1561, Phillip II brough the Courts to Madrid and made it the capital of Spain. This fact marked the history of the city and still does. Madrid cannot leave apart the responsabilities of being the capital. And also nobody can ignore the cultural connections that Madrid established with several cities and countries along history. The discovery of the Americas meant the beginning of a link with Latin America still promoted and boosted.
