Azotea del Círculo

This guide to Azotea del Círculo in Madrid contrasts the rooftop bar you're standing on with what the building held in August 1936, weeks after Spain's Civil War broke out, when militia seized the Círculo de Bellas Artes and turned it into a checa, an improvised committee with power to interrogate and judge. It traces how the operation moved to a nearby street within eighteen days, and reaches back to architect Antonio Palacios raising this skyscraper-inspired tower between 1921 and 1926. Listen for the story behind the bronze goddess who has watched over the terrace since the building's founding.