Spain Guide
Madrid
Plaza Mayor
Set back from the street and entered by stepped passageways, Madrid's most important landmark, Plaza Mayor, appears all the more grand in its continuous sweep of arcaded buildings. Planned by Felipe II – the monarch who made Madrid the capital – as the public meeting place of the city, it was finished thirty years later in 1619 during the reign of Felipe III, who sits astride the stallion in the central statue.
The square, with its hundreds of balconies, was designed as a theatre for public events. It was the scene of the Inquisition's autos-da-fé (trials of faith) and the executions that followed; kings were crowned here; festivals and demonstrations passed through; plays by Lope de Vega and others received their first performances; bulls were fought; and gossip was spread. The more important events were watched by royalty from their apartments in the central Casa Panadería, a palace named after the bakery that it replaced. It was rebuilt after a fire in 1692 and subsequently decorated with frescoes. However, the present delightful, and highly kitsch, array of allegorical figures that adorn the facade was only added in 1992. Today, the palace houses municipal offices and a tourist office (daily 9.30am–8.30pm).
Nowadays, Plaza Mayor is primarily a tourist haunt, full of expensive outdoor cafés and restaurants (best stick to a drink), buskers and caricaturists. However, an air of grandeur clings to the plaza, which still performs public functions. In summer and during the major madrileño fiestas, it becomes an outdoor theatre and music stage; just before Christmas, it becomes a bazaar for festive decorations and religious regalia. Every Sunday, too, stamp and coin sellers set up stalls.
Alleys just below the square hold some of the city's oldest mesones, or taverns. Have a drink in these in the early evening and you are likely to be serenaded by passing tunas – musicians and singers dressed in traditional costume of knickerbockers and waistcoats who wander around town playing and passing the hat. These men-only troupes are attached to various faculties of the university and are usually students supplementing their grants.