Northwestern Districts, Madrid

The Palacio Cerralbo lies near the busy Plaza de España and the aristocratic Paseo de Rosales. Its owner, Enriquede Aguilera y Gamboa, Marquis of Cerralbo, bequeathed it and its art treasures to the State in 1922.The museum, opened in 1924, displays a varied collection, including archeological material of the Iberian, Punic and Roman periods, Meissen, Buen Retiro, Sèvres and Wedgwood porcelain, arms and armor, tapestries and furniture of different periods.The collection of pictures includes works by such masters as El Greco, Zurbarán, Alonso Cano, Ribera, Valdés Leal, Carreño, Tintoretto, Tiepolo and Goya.

The Chapel of San Antonio de la Florida, situated on the banks of the Manzanares, has always been a popular place of pilgrimage with the people of Madrid, and it is still the scene of a great annual festival in honor of St Anthony of Padua. It is also famous as the burial-place of the great Spanish painter Francisco de Goya (1746-1828), and possesses frescoes which are among his finest work.

The University City lies in the northwest of Madrid on the road to La Coruña. The university was moved to the site of the royal gardens of La Moncloa by King Alfonso XIII in 1927. It thereby replaced the old Universidad Central in the Calle San Bernardo, which itself was not founded until 1836 after the closure of the famous university at Alcalá de Henares. The construction of the University City was entrusted to Modesto López Otero. During the Civil War the University City and the neighboring Parque del Oeste were the scene of fierce fighting, in the course of which many of the buildings were destroyed. After 1940 reconstruction was begun with many additions being made, and as a result the architecture reflects many contrasting styles. During the last few years buildings belonging to the university have mushroomed along both sides of the Avenida de Puerta de Hierro as far as the Puerta de Hierro. These include certain ones which are not actually used by the university, e.g. the large complex around the Palace of La Moncloa (18th C. in which the Regent Maria Cristina, 1833-40, and Queen Isabella II, 1843-68, lived), which is now the seat of the government, and the high-rise building (Avenida de Juan de Herrera 2; 1969 by Jaime López Asiaín and Angel Díaz), in which the Museum of Contemporary Art, now in the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, was formerly housed. It contains the glyptotheque, the Museo de Reproducciones Artistícas, and in the future temporary exhibitions will be staged here.

The Barracks of the Count-Duke (named after the Conde-Duque de Olivares, Philip IV's Minister) were built in 1720 to the design of Philip V's architect Pedro Ribera. They were made necessary by the new military policy of the Bourbons, who wished to have troops permanently stationed in the capital.The barracks, planned on an enormous scale, flank three inner courtyards, forming a unity with the Palacio de Liria and its gardens. They were first occupied by the Royal Bodyguard, later by cavalry and finally by the Military Academy. For 150 years they defended the northwestern approach to the capital. The long ranges of plain brick buildings, now empty and rather dilapidated, have an air of austerity and grimness. Only the handsome main entrance recalls the architect who created the Hospicio de San Fernando and the Puente de Toledo.

The Parque del Oeste, one of Madrid's finest parks, lies between the Montana del Priàncipe Pío and La Moncloa in the northwest of the city. This English-style park was laid out at the turn of the century by the Madrid landscape gardener Cecilio Rodríguez, who was also responsible for other parks in the city. It derives its particular atmosphere from the proximity of the Ciudad Universitaria, the student quarter of Argüelles and the many students' residences in the Avenida de Séneca.During the Civil War the park, which has an area of 85 hectares (210 acres), lay within the firing zone. In this area just outside the city there was bitter fighting between 1936 and 1939, and the park was furrowed by trenches and ravaged by bombs and grenades. In 1945 it was restored to its original aspect by Cecilio Rodríguez, with new lawns, trees and monuments. A recent addition to its attractions is the rose-garden opened in 1958, which offers a glorious display of color in spring.

The Vicente Calderón Stadium, on the banks of the Manzanares, can accommodate 70,000 spectators, and is thus Madrid's second largest football ground (coming after the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium). It belongs to the Atlético de Madrid Club, which inaugurated its first pitch in 1903. During the 1920s Atlético played in the Metropolitano Stadium near Ciudad Universitaria, moving to the Vicente Calderón Stadium in the 1970s. Some of the matches in the 1982 World Cup were played here.

In the Calle Princesa there is a large department store, a shopping center and 44 other shops. There is an emphasis on clothing shops.

This newspaper museum contains the largest collection of newspapers and periodicals in Spain.

Paintings, furniture, tapestries and documents concerning the Dukes of Alba.