PLAZAS

The Plaza Mayor was designed by Juan de Herrera, the architect of the palace at El Escorial, and built under the reign of the Habsburg emperor Philip III. Completed in 1619, it is a large rectangular space laid out on the golden section, with regular and uniform facades covering two large new buildings, as well as older parts of the medieval fabric.
There are nine monumental arched gateways leading into and out of the great square, which was the hub of life in Renaissance Madrid. In it's early days, bulls were fought on horseback in the plaza, and it was the site of festivals and tournaments, as well as the infamous 'Autos de Fe', the public burnings and punishments mounted by the Spanish Inquisition.
This view is looking to the north-east from the arcade, and across the plaza to the royal pavilion in the center of the north facade. All of the buildings facing the plaza are painted in the deep, royal red that gives the space it's distinctive character, except the royal pavilion, which is distinguished by brightly painted frescoes depicting allegorical and mythological figures.

Sitting under the umbrellas of an open air terrace at one of the cafes around the edges of the plaza, this view is looking toward the east facade. The arcades around the sides of the plaza have columns and square lintels, only those at the two central pavilions have arches with vaulted passages behind them. Above the arcades there are three stories of french doors with continuous balconies, a simple cornice with dentils, and sloping roofs with dormers facing into the plaza. The arch on the right goes out to the Plaza de la Provincia to the east.

There are numerous arches, passages, openings and sub-spaces that give access to and from the Plaza Mayor on all sides. Nine of these are expressed as monumental arches, that break the arcade and the second story to frame views into subsidiary plazas and street vistas in all directions. This arch is in the north-east corner, looking north into the Calle de Felipe III and to the Calle Mayor.
The warm gray stonework of the arcades and balconies, the white doors and shutters and thick window surrounds, and the deep royal red of the walls, set off beautifully against the luminescent blue skies and the wispy clouds in the tops of the arches and the ceiling above the space.
The pavement is cobblestone, laid straight and diagonally, in several shades of gray, so as to form two bisecting square grids over the surface of the plaza. There is a central equestrian statue of Philip III riding to the east, and four fine circular bronze pedestals with benches and lightposts, located at the quarter-points, that have incised panels depicting the history and the design of the Plaza Major.

The Plaza de Gabriel Miro lies on the western edge of the old city, and south of the Royal Palace, on the hillside overlooking the river Manzanares. It is a modern, urban park on the grounds behind the church of Santa Maria de la Cabeza las Vistillas and the Colegio Nacional. In the center of the picture is the choir of the Cathedral of Nuestra Senora de la Almudena, a Neo-classical basilica with a centralized dome over the crossing, which faces toward the Palacio Real to the north.

The Plaza de Oriente, as it's name implies, lies on the long east side of the Palacio Real. Forming the interface between the palace and the city, it is a ordered, geometric space with axes and vistas, formal plantings and promenades lined with rows of trees, topiary and sculpture. On the east side of the plaza, across from and facing the palace, is the hexagonal block of the Theatro Real. This view is looking to the north from the southern edges of the plaza.

The Plaza Mayor was built all at one time, with space being carved out of the existing fabric of the medieval town, as well as new buildings being added on the north and south sides, all covered by the regular and uniform facades, and connected by the unifying arcades. The monumental archways occur at the points where the rectangular plan intersects with the irregular and radiating streets of the old fabric, as the plaza opens out to the city in all directions. Where medieval buildings had to be incorporated, particularly on the south and west sides of the plaza, the arcades and facade treatment were continued down to the next block.
These are the most interesting spaces of the Plaza Mayor, where the idealized golden rectangle meets the reality of the existing, organic topography, buildings and streets, with unexpected angles and vistas, deep canyons and slots cut through to subsidiary spaces. These are the spaces that support the life of the great plaza, where tables and chairs can be set out, or merchandise, where artists can show their work and musicians can play, places to eat and drink, to meet people, or simply to hang out.

There are numerous subsidiary passages and spaces that have formed around the Plaza Mayor on all sides. This smaller, irregular space, surrounded by mostly undistinguished buildings is on the south side, along the Calle de Lechuga, east of the Calle de Toledo. Several of the buildings have painted mutrals depicting landscapes in the surrounding countryside. There's a great little Irish bar, in the building on the corner on the right side of the picture. It also has fine tile murals of allegorical figures of the Zodiac on the facades.