Plaza Mayor

Plaza Mayor sits in the heart of Madrid, a rectangular arcaded square 129 by 94 metres just off the Calle Mayor. Philip III commissioned it from 1617 to designs by Juan Gomez de Mora as a stage for the Habsburg capital; his equestrian statue stands at the centre. Bullfights, coronation feasts, public executions and Inquisition autos-da-fe all played out here. After three devastating fires, the last in 1790, Juan de Villanueva rebuilt it with closed nine-storey facades and nine arched entrances. Today tapas bars and Sunday's stamp and coin market crowd beneath 237 balconies; the painted facade of the Casa de la Panaderia with its frescoes dominates the north side while street performers pose before the bronze rider.