Alcalá Gate

Welcome to the Puerta de Alcalá, perhaps the most iconic and beloved landmark in all of Madrid. You are standing in the Plaza de la Independencia, looking at a monumental gateway that was once one of the five royal entrances to…

One of the most extraordinary secrets of the Puerta de Alcalá is that it is essentially two different monuments joined back-to-back. When King Charles III commissioned the project, he invited several famous architects to submit…

Let us examine the East facade, which was designed to impress those arriving in Madrid from the road to Alcalá de Henares. This side is much more richly decorated than the interior-facing side. …

Now, let us turn our attention to the West facade, the side that faces the interior of the city. While it is less cluttered with columns, its symbolic program is just as intense, though more focused on military themes. …

If you step closer to the East facade of the gate and examine the lower sections of the granite blocks, you will see something that a coat of paint could never hide: hundreds of small pockmarks and indentations. These are not the…

The Puerta de Alcalá occupies a unique place in the hearts of Madrileños, a sentiment immortalized in the famous 1980s song by Ana Belén and Víctor Manuel. The lyrics, 'Ahí está, ahí está, viendo pasar el tiempo, la Puerta de…

As we conclude our time at the Puerta de Alcalá, take one last walk around its perimeter to appreciate the two faces of Sabatini's masterpiece. We have uncovered the diplomatic genius that created this asymmetrical wonder and…