Madrid

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The Madrid skyline

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain and is home to five million people. The capital used to be Valladolid until 1560.

Madrid is in the middle of Spain, in the Community of Madrid.

Spain's Royal Palace is in Madrid. It is one of the largest palace in all of Western Europe. But the king and his family do not live there anymore; they live in a smaller palace, and only use the Royal Palace for important events, like meeting other kings and presidents. One can go inside the Royal Palace, see the many beautiful paintings and expensive furniture and jewelry, and learn about the past kings and queens of Spain.

There are also a lot of very big and important art museums in Madrid, like the Prado Museum, the Queen Sofia Museum, and the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum. These show off paintings, sculptures, and other works of art from some of the most famous artists in the world.

Many famous, important, and valuable works of art are in these museums. For example, the Queen Sofia museum has a famous painting by Pablo Picasso, called Guernica. Picasso painted this painting to show how sad and angry it made him when the German Nazis destroyed a town in Spain called Guernica in 1937. Picasso had said that the painting should never return to Spain until it was a democracy again. Once that happened, they built the Queen Sofia museum just to have a good place to put it.

There are many other sites to see in Madrid. Many people go to see the Plaza Mayor which was a market place. The Plaza de la Villa was another famous market place. There are a lot of shops along the Gran Via. Real Madrid football fans celebrate at the Plaza de Cibeles. Two famous gates to see are the Puerta del Sol and the Puerta de Alcalá.

Madrid has some lovely parks. The Retiro Park is the most famous. The Cristal Palace can be found in this park.

The Plaza de Toros is visited by many tourists. Many madrileños enjoy bullfights there.

One of the most recent sites built in Madrid are the KIO Towers. These are also known as the Gateway to Europe.