The City of Bear - Madrid, Spain

Palacio Real

Royal Palace (Palacio Real) is the main sight of old Madrid. It has been constructed in the XVIII-th century by order of Phillip V Bourbon on the place of the Habsburg's residence which was destroyed by fire in 1734.
The royal family does not live in the palace since 1931. However several times in a year the king gets together in a banquet hall of the Royal Palace, that is usually used as a museum, state and public figures, writers, scientists, artists and musicians.

We were not in the palace, it was impossible to see all places in 2 days, but it was probably worth to visit it. There is a porcelain room inside, a lunch hall with magnificent wall-papers and with painted ceiling, a main entrance with a marble staircase by Sabbatini and a statue of Charles III in the Roman armour, a room of Gasparini in Rococo style and a throne-room.
And beyond this some museums are placed in there — the Museum of painting and decorative art, Royal library, the Numismatical museum.

Plaza del Puerta del Sol

Puerta del Sol is the reference point of all highway distances in Spain, so it is the centre of Spain. Inhabitants of Madrid come here to a New Year's eve to think of desire. Here there is also a sculpture of a bear at a strawberry tree which is a part of a city emblem.
In 1701 the Bourbons replaced the Habsburg dynasty on the Spanish throne. This fact was reflected also in the image of the city. There have been buildings constructed that decorate Madrid still today - arch Puerta de Alkala, Royal Palace, Post building on the Square Puerta del Sol and others.

Museum Prado

The first thing you think about Madrid is of course the Museo del Prado (and not at all the bullfighting...). Hemingway wrote: "If it had nothing else than the Prado it would be worth spending a month in every spring..."
To get to the Prado Museum we had to stand about an hour in a waiting line. But then we have been rewarded. The collection of paintings is really magnificent and very large. In order to have time to visit also the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum which is located very close to the Prado, we had to confine ourselves only to halls of favourite artists - El Greco, Velasquez, Goya, Bosch, Brueghel and Rembrandt...

It is truly one of the greatest collections of painting in the world. And the building is constructed also by order of Charles III. It is dogged by bad luck since already 200 years. It has begun with the placement of the royal collection of pictures in Prado only because it was required to clear the walls of royal salons for pasting by wall-paper. Then the building has suffered from Napoleonic armies which have placed here barracks and a powder warehouse. Later it has undergone to bombardments during the war of 1936-1939. In 1980th years there were some administrative scandals, in 1990th years water leakings through the roof in Velasquez hall were found out. At last the reconstruction of a museum has begun and took many long years.
We had the luck to get to the already renovated and expanded museum.

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