Madrid and it's Metropoletan area

*** The Old City
The traditional heart of Madrid is an area 3.9 sq km (1.5 sq mi). In 1656 King Philip IV had a city wall built around the area.

Over the next 200 years the city grew through construction of taller buildings and the use of open land within the wall.

The first major expansion outside the wall was to the east; this area, known as the Barrio de Salamanca, is still considered an exclusive neighborhood.

Major plazas and monuments mark the old inner city.

On the west side of the Manzanares River is a large park known as the Casa de Campo (Country House). Overlooking it is the Royal Palace.

The palace stands on the site of the older Alcázar Palace, which began as a medieval fortress.

In the early 1500s the Alcázar was used as a hunting lodge, and it was remodeled by King Philip II after he established Madrid as his capital city in 1561.

The current palace was built from 1738 to 1765 after a massive fire destroyed the Alcázar.

Today the Royal Palace stands as a huge, neoclassical monument to the Spanish monarchy in the 1700s.

From the Royal Palace one can follow the old Calle Mayor (Main Street) a few blocks east to the equally imposing Plaza Mayor.

Madrid has many plazas (large public squares lined with buildings), and the Plaza Mayor is one of the most notable.

This plaza was built from 1617 to 1619 and served as the civic and economic center of Madrid until the end of the 19th century.

It was used every day as a public market and was the scene of public ceremonies.

It was also used as a bullring for royal festivals and held as many as 50,000 spectators. Now the Plaza Mayor is primarily a tourist center.

A few blocks farther east along the Calle Mayor is the Puerta del Sol. Considered the center of Madrid, this plaza is the point from which distance is measured on highways leading away from the city.

From the Puerta del Sol the main east-west route through the old city continues as the Calle de Alcalá. This street runs a few more blocks east to the Plaza de Cibeles and the nearby Puerta de Alcalá.

The Plaza de Cibeles is named after a statue of Cybele, the Roman goddess of nature.

In the 18th century King Charles III placed the statue at the plaza, regarded as the main entrance to Madrid.

Today the plaza is marked by the immense central post office, which was built in the early 20th century.

The Calle de Alcalá continues eastward from the old city, passing the Plaza de Toros (bullring), which can accommodate 25,000 spectators. Though once on the eastern edge of Madrid, the Plaza de Toros is now surrounded by the city.

Running north-south from the Plaza de Cibeles is the most famous street of Madrid. The name of this tree-lined boulevard changes three times.

The two oldest sections, the Paseo del Prado and the Paseo de Recoletos, made up the eastern edge of the city until it began to expand after 1850.

The word prado means meadow or pasture in Spanish, and the area that is now the Paseo del Prado was an open meadow area until around 1740.

Thereafter the Prado area was gradually developed into a combination of boulevards, walkways, and fountains lined with museums, libraries, and sidewalk cafés, as well as the royal Botanical Garden.

The two older sections of the street are also near Madrid’s Retiro Park. Retiro means resting place or retreat in Spanish.

This park began as the gardens around a royal palace and in the 1770s it became a public park.

The third section of the famous three-part street is the Paseo de la Castellana, which runs north from the old city and was extended several times as the city grew.

This boulevard is lined by the skyscrapers and high-rise apartment buildings typical of Madrid’s modern sections.

*** Surrounding Areas
Most of Madrid’s growth has happened during the 20th century.

Unlike many American cities, Madrid had few separately governed suburban cities on its borders until the 1970s.

Madrid’s large and fast-growing metropolitan area incorporated towns and industrial suburbs that once were independent areas outside of the city.

In 1975, when longtime authoritarian leader Francisco Franco died, this method of growth began to change.

Since then the government has built superhighways and regional commuter railroads to encourage development of areas outside the city limits.

This growth created an industrial axis extending eastward along the highway and railroad to Barcelona.

During the 1960s and 1970s the towns of Vicalvaro, Canillejas, San Fernando de Henares, Torrejón de Ardoz, Vallecas, and Villaverde became industrial suburbs.

As expansion continued in the 1980s and 1990s, this industrial zone extended south and west to Getafe, Leganés, Alcorcón, and Móstoles, and north and east to Alcobendas, San Sebastián de los Reyes, and Arganda.

Residential expansion has spread to the north.