I´m going to write about a wonderful Gate of Madrid. I hope you like it and of course I want to apologize for my level of English.
The city
Madrid is the capital of Spain. It is in the centre of Spain, and although there are remains of a human settlements before the Roman Empire, Madrid become the capital of the country and of the Great Spanish Empire in 1561, when the king Philip the second moved all his family and employees from Toledo to Spain. Since that moment, Madrid has grown up and new wonderful buildings have been made. Nowadays is an important city for cultural and business tourism, and its weather is loved by everyone who visits it.
History of the monument
In the sixteenth century, Madrid was a city rounded by a wall made with not very strong materials build to avoid the uncontrolled growth of the city and to have a control of the goods that were taken into the city. There were some gates at this wall. The king Philip the Third married to the Princess Margarita from Austria, thus he decided to build a monumental gate to commemorate the marriage. It was called "Puerta de Alcalá" (Alcalá´s Gate), due to it had been built in the road that finished in Alcalá de Henares, nowadays declared World Heritage City by UNESCO. As Carlos the Third, also known as "the best Major of Madrid" did not like the design, he ordered to demolish the gate, and another gate, bigger and nicer was built following the planes of Francesco Sabatini, the favourite architect of the King. This gate that has become a symbol of Madrid was finished in 1778. This gate joins culture and history. May be when you are in front of the gate you think "oh, these Spanish people are a very careless, some stones have little holes and they do not fix it…". If you ever think that, you will be making a mistake. These holes were made in 1808, during the Spanish Independence War against French troops. They are part of the history. The French Army destroyed lots of monuments and palaces from Madrid, like "Buen Retiro" Palace, but this gate survived. == How to get to Alcalá´s Gate == This gate is the main element of the Independence Square (Plaza de la Independencia in Spanish), that is located in the junction of Alcalá, Alfonso XII and Serrano streets. You can arrive there… - By car: this is not recommended. Parking there is very difficult, and you will have to pay if you want to park there until 8 p.m. Alcalá and Alfonso XII are bidirectional streets, and Serrano Street has only one direction, finishing in that square. I don not recommend you to go there by car. - By metro: the suburban of Madrid has two stations next to the gate: Retiro and Banco de España, in the line 2 (the red one). - By bus: this is a very easy mean of transport to get there, because this monument is in the centre of the city and lot of busses pass very closed to it. - By train: you can arrive easily from Atocha Station, where they stop all the train lines of Madrid. You can also arrive from Recoletos Station. From both of them to the square you will have to walk les than ten minutes.
The Square
It is next to Retiro Park, in the centre of the city. From the square you can easily see Cibeles Fountain and the start of Gran Via, one of the main streets of Madrid.
The Gate
The gate id located in the centre of the square, rounded by some floral decorations. Its materials are graphite and marble. Its architect, Francesco Sabatini, also designed some parts of Royal Palace and San Francisco el Grande, a wonderful church of Madrid. It is composed by five arcs. Two of them are rectangular and the three central arcs are finished in a circular form. These three arcs were used by carriages and the two rectangular arcs were used by people walking. The two façades of the gate are different: the East one is made by semi-columns while the West one is formed by piles ***. This gate has some sculptural groups. In the upper part of the central arc we can read "REGE CAROLO III. ANNO MDCCLXXVIII". King Charles the Third. Year 1778.
This is very easy to visit. In few minutes you will have enjoyed the gate. If you ever go to Spain, do not doubt about watching that wonderful monument.
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I´m really sorry for my level of English, but I hope that you have understood most of the words that I have used. The words with *** I do not know if they are well used. If anyone could help me… I will put some photos of that monument when I reach the green level.
