Plaza de España
Grand square anchored by a decades-in-the-making monument to Don Quixote's creator, flanked by twin mid-century skyscrapers.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Plaza de España in Madrid opens in 1915, when a contest to design a monument to Cervantes ahead of the tricentenary of his death set off a furious public protest signed by over a hundred of Spain's leading writers and artists, among them Ramón del Valle-Inclán. It follows the winning design by Rafael Martínez Zapatero and Lorenzo Coullaut Valera as it was funded by subscribers across the Spanish-speaking world and slowly took shape around Cervantes' bronze figure, with Don Quixote and Sancho Panza joining soon after. Listen for how the bronze cast grew again decades later, long after the anniversary it was built for had passed.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Barrio de las Letras
Golden Age literary quarter where rival playwrights once lived, feuded, and now rest streets apart.
Convento de las Trinitarias Descalzas de San Ildefonso
Baroque convent crypt holding the disputed remains believed to be Spain's greatest novelist.
Plaza de Oriente
Grand royal square framed by a palace, a theater, and rows of statues of Spanish monarchs.
Metropolis Building
Beaux-Arts corner tower with a gilded slate dome and a bronze winged-victory statue high above the avenue.
Cibeles Fountain
Marble fountain of a goddess riding a lion-drawn chariot, a favorite football victory spot.
El Oso y el Madroño
Bronze statue of a bear reaching into a strawberry tree, the city's medieval heraldic symbol.