Madrid - Gran Vía

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Gran Via Description

The Gran Vía, which runs from the Calle de Alcalá to the Plaza de España, reflects the very essence of modern Madrid. With its office blocks, its banks and department stores, its cafes and cinemas, its Metro stations and underground garages, it is the city's display window, its meeting-place and promenade, the center of commercial life and a major traffic artery. It must be said that under the influence of traffic and hamburger bars the Gran Vía has lost much of its individuality and style. In particular the pulsating night life has during the 1980s shifted to the surrounding district.

The idea of driving a wide new street through the center of the city to link its eastern and western districts was first conceived in the 19th C.,

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Hobbies & Activities category: Region, quarter of a major city; Market, shopping area

Gran Via Highlights

Gran Via American Section

Past the Capitol begins the third section of the Gran Vía, offering an impressive vista of the Plaza de España and the high-rise Torre de Madrid. This last section, the most American in aspect,

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Oratory of the Knight of Grace

The Chapel of the Caballero de Gracia is one of the surprises that lie in wait for the visitor to Madrid's principal shopping street, the Gran Vià.

Amid the high-rise blocks, the cinemas, the

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Palace of the Press

The Plaza del Callao is dominated by the massive facade of the Palacio de la Prensa (1924) and the Capitol, the most stylish building in the Gran Vía, built in 1931 by Fernández Shaw and Muguruza.

Palacio de la Musica

Farther west from the Sepu department store, on the opposite side of the street, are the Palacio de la Música, Madrid's second largest concert hall and the Avenida cinema.

Plaza de Espana

The Plaza de España lies at the junction between old and modern Madrid, where the Habsburg and Bourbon quarters, the Plaza de Oriente, the Royal Palace and the Plaza Mayor meet the Gran Via of the

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Torre de Espana

The television tower Torre de España (R.T.V.E.) was completed for the football World Cup in 1982. The 166m/545ft) high tower, situated south of the Parque de la Fuente del Berro near the M30

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Sepu Department Store

Immediately adjoining the Telefónica is the old Madrid-Paris (now Sepu) department store, built by French architects.

Telefonica

The Telefónica, which was completed in 1929, has for many years Madrid's tallest and best-known building. Designed by Ignacio de Cárdenas, it is 81m (265ft) high, with 14 stories, and occupies an area of 1,600sq.m (17,000sq.ft).