Embajadores District, Madrid

The construction of a bridge over the depression of Calle de Segovia to link the Palacio Real with the Church of San Francisco el Grande was a project long cherished by Sacchetti, the architect of the palace; but this revolutionary piece of urban planning was not actually carried out until 1874. Work began on the construction of the Viaduct during the reign of King Amadeo I and was completed during the short-lived First Republic. This first viaduct, an iron structure on stone foundations, was 130m (142yd) long, 13m (43ft) high and crossed Calle de Segovia at a height of 23m (65ft). The original viaduct soon showed signs of wear, and had to be completely rebuilt after little more than a half-century of existence. Work began under the Second Republic, which did not survive its completion in 1942. In recent years this iron and concrete structure has undergone further restoration.From the viaduct, which features in Madrid's accident statistics as the scene of not a few suicides and attempted suicides, there are fine views of the Casa de Campo and the sea of roofs in the old town.

The Plaza de Santa Ana in front of the Teatro Español takes its name from a Carmelite convent which stood opposite the Corral del Príncipe in the 17th C. The square was given its present aspect in 1810 by King Joseph I Bonaparte, who made it one of the finest squares in Madrid, pulling down the convent and seven other buildings, planting trees and setting a fountain in the center.In 1868 there were further demolitions and a monument to the great 17th C. dramatist Calderón was erected on one side of the square.

The Madrid flea market of El Rastro takes place every Sunday morning in the barrios bajos (lower wards) to the south of the city, an area sloping down to the Manzanares. The triangle of the little streets and lanes between Calle de Toledo, the Ronda de Toledo and Calle Mesón de Paredes has its apex in the Plaza de Cascorro. Here, under a monument to Eloy Gonzalo, a hero of the Cuban War of 1898, the Rastro begins.

The Puerta de Toledo is one of Madrid's two surviving city gates, the other being the Puerta de Alcalá. It stands in a wide square at the end of the Calle de Toledo. The gate was built during the short period of Joseph I Bonaparte's government. Begun as a triumphal arch in honor of Napoleon, it was, by the time of its completion in 1817, the symbol of the Bourbon King Ferdinand VII's return to ther Spanish throne and the end of French rule.

The museum offers a collection of items collected by missionaries from Zaire, Ethiopia, Uganda, Sudan and Cameroon. Objects include clothing, jewelry, musical instruments, wooden and ivory carvings, masks, weapons, charms and tools.

Parque Enrique Tierno Galván, south of the Atocha Station, contains the Planetarium of Madrid.