Plaza de Oriente

This guide to Plaza de Oriente in Madrid centers on the bronze equestrian statue of King Philip IV rearing above the square, and the problem it posed in the 1630s: no one had cast a horse standing on two legs at this size before. Sculptor Pietro Tacca worked from drawings by the court painter Diego Velazquez, then sent his numbers to an unlikely collaborator in Italy, Galileo Galilei. Philip's father, by contrast, had settled for a horse standing calmly on all four feet. Look up at the horse's tail, planted against the base, as you listen.