Puerta del Sol
The Puerta del Sol (German: "Gate of the Sun") is one of the most famous and most visited places in Madrid .
meaning
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On the Puerta del Sol there is, among other things, the zero kilometer stone of the six main national roads in Spain, which extend in a star shape from Madrid across the entire Spanish mainland. In addition, there is a clock tower on the Casa de Correos at the Puerta del Sol, which traditionally rings in the New Year on New Year's Eve with twelve chimes, with the Spaniards consuming a grape ( las 12 uvas ) for each stroke of the bell ; this event has been televised nationwide every year since December 31, 1962.
Two historical events mark the Puerta del Sol: the proclamation of the second Spanish republic in 1931 and the assassination attempt on the President of the Council of Ministers, José Canalejas, in 1912 .
history
The Puerta del Sol presented originally one of the accesses of an enclosure is that Madrid was surrounded in the 15th century. This enclosure encompassed the medieval suburbs, which had spread outside the actual city wall since the 12th century. The name of the Puerta del Sol comes from the image of a sun that adorned the entrance gate at that time. This was positioned there because the entrance was oriented towards the east, i.e. towards sunrise.
Even if the area around the Puerta del Sol turned into a kind of meeting place between the 17th century and the 19th century (for example one of the most famous gossip bars of its time, the so-called Gradas de San Felipe ), so the Puerta del Sol was not a real square like the Plaza Mayor and was also only about half its current size.
In the years 1766 to 1768 the French architect Jacques Marquet († 1782) built the Casa de Correos (German: Post Office) on the Puerta del Sol . This construction laid the basis for today's urban structure of the Puerta del Sol and its growing importance as a central location in Madrid.
Between 1857 and 1862 a complete redesign of the square was carried out by the architects Lucio del Valle, Juan Rivera and José Morer, which gave the square its current appearance. The lines of the Casa de Correos were retained on one side of the square and residential buildings with a uniform facade in the form of a semicircle were built on the opposite front.
In 1959 the square was changed again by Manuel Herrero Palacios. Plantings and fountains were built in the center. The last redesign took place in 1986 by the architects Antonio Riviere, Javier Ortega and Antonio González Capitel by significantly expanding the area of the pedestrian zone.
Today's structure
Today the seat of government of the Comunidad de Madrid is housed in the Casa de Correos .
On the Puerta del Sol is, among other things, the four-meter-high statue Oso y el Madroño ( German "the bear and the strawberry tree" ), a work by the artist Antonio Navarro Santa Fe (1906–1983).
Web links
Coordinates: 40 ° 25 ′ 1 ″ N , 3 ° 42 ′ 13 ″ W.