17 & Originally having the postal address of
The Central Telephone Exchange relocated down
It is now occupied by Associated Architects, and Phoenix Beard (a firm of property consultants). It currently uses the address The Exchange,
The building was designed in 1896 by Frederick Martin of the firm Martin & Chamberlain.
The former H.B. Sale factory (grid reference SP067876), at 1-7 Constitution Hill, Birmingham, England, at the acute junction with Hampton Street, is a Grade II listed building. Extremely thin, with a tower at one end, this red brick and terracotta building is a remarkable sight end-on.It was designed 1895-6 by William Doubleday and James R. Shaw for H. B. Sale, a die-sinker (who still occupy premises on Summer Lane within 100 metres of the original building). The original plans specified five stories, but only four were built. A fifth storey was added in the mid-20th century before planning laws were in force to protect the integrity of original structures and as a result, the fifth floor is not sympathetic to the 1895 building. The tower is original and is believed to be a memorial to Lord Roberts. Plans show three independent shops and offices at ground level. Each upper floor, measuring in the region of 900 square feet, was designed as a single workshop with an office in the tower. There was an engine room and dynamo in the basement.
The present owner also purchased the adjacent buildings numbers 9-11 Constitution Hill in the early 1990s in order to provide better access to the listed main body of the property.
Known locally as the '
1 Snow Hill Plaza (also known as Kennedy Tower) is a highrise office building in It receives the name
It was redeveloped and modernised externally in previous years to be better suited to the environment which it will be a part of which will see the construction of a major mixed-use development adjacent to Snow Hill station. It forms a prominent addition on the skyline when viewed from the north.
The Palace of Charles V, in The plan of the building is generated by a 63-meters-long square, with a circular patio in it. this structure, the main Mannerist characteristic of the palace, has no precedents in the Renaissance architecture, and places the building in the avant-garde of its time. The building has two floors: The lower is of a padded tuscan order. The upper floor is of ionic order, alternating pilasters and pedimented windows. both of the two main façades boast portals made of stone from the Sierra Elvira.
The circular patio has also two levels: the lower is formed by a doric colonnade made of conglomerate stone, with an orthodoxally classic entablature, formed by triglyphs and metopes. The upper floor is formed by a stylized ionic colonnade. Its entablature has no decoration. This organisation of the patio shows clearly a deep knowledge of the architecture of the
The The terrace or plateau where the Alhambra settles, measures about 740 m (2430 ft) in length by 205 m (674 ft) at its greatest width, extends from W.N.W. to E.S.E., and covers an area of about 142,000 m². It is enclosed by a strongly fortified wall, which is flanked by thirteen towers. The river Darro, which foams through a deep ravine on the north, divides the plateau from the Albaicín district of Granada; the Assabica valley, containing the
Torre de Collserola (or Torre Foster) is a uniquely designed tower located on the Tibidabo hill in the Serra de Collserola, near The tenth floor of the pod is open to the public.
The Torre Agbar (Catalan from the Spanish translation of the building's owner name Aguas de Barcelona, a water company), or According to Nouvel, the shape of the Torre Agbar was inspired by the mountains of
Its design combines a number of different architectural concepts, resulting in a striking structure built with reinforced concrete, covered with a facade of glass, and over 4,500 window openings cut out of the structural concrete.
The building stands out in
Santa Maria del Mar is an imposing church in The first mention of a
From the outside,
The north-west tower was completed in 1496, but its companion was not finished until 1902.
In contrast with the exterior, the interior gives an impression of light and spaciousness. It is of the basilica type, with its three aisles forming a single space with no transepts and no architectural boundary between nave and presbytery. The simple ribbed vault is supported on slender octagonal columns, and abundant daylight streams in through the tall clerestorey windows.
The interior is almost devoid of imagery of the sort to be found in
Some interesting stained-glass windows have survived from various periods.
La Sagrada Família (Catalan, 'The Holy Family') is a massive Roman Catholic basilica under construction in
Parts of the unfinished building and Gaudí's models and workshop were destroyed during the war by Catalan anarchists. The design, as now being constructed, is based both on reconstructed versions of the lost plans and on modern adaptations. Since 1940 the architects Francesc Quintana, Isidre Puig Boada, Lluís Bonet i Gari and Francesc Cardoner have carried on the work. The current director and son of Lluís Bonet, Jordi Bonet i Armengol, has been introducing computers into the design and construction process since the 1980s. Mark Burry of
According to the newspaper El Periódico de Catalunya, 2.26 million people visited the partially built basilica in 2004, making it one of the most popular attractions in
Recently, the Ministry of Public Works of Spain (Ministerio de Fomento in Spanish), has projected the construction of a tunnel for the high speed train just under where the principal façade of the temple has to be built. Although the ministry affirms that the project has no risk, the engineers and architects of the temple disagree as there are no guarantees that the tunnel will not affect the stability of the building.
The basement is covered with 'trencadís', the Gaudí's mosaic technique created from broken tile shards.
Because of the tower's orientation, it works also as a giant sundial, which uses the Europa square to indicate the hour.
The Cathedral of Santa Eulàlia (also called La Seu) is the Gothic cathedral seat of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Eulalia of
One side chapel is dedicated to "Christ of Lepanto", and contains a cross from a ship that fought at the Battle of Lepanto (1571). The body of the cross is shifted to the right. Spanish legend says that the body swerved to avoid getting hit by a cannonball. This is believed to have been a sign from God that the Ottomans would be defeated.
The cathedral has a secluded Gothic cloister where thirteen white geese are kept (it is said that Eulalia was 13 when she was murdered).
The Arc de Triomf (English: Triumphal Arch) is an archway structure in The arch is built in reddish brickwork in the Moorish Revival style. The front frieze contains the stone sculpture "
The top of the arch is decorated with the
The arch is located between Passeig de Lluís Companys and Passeig de Sant Joan, at the end of a wide promenade connecting with the Park of the Ciutadella.
Torre España (literally The tower was built in 1982, conmemorating the FIFA World Cup celebrated in
The Torre España tower is generally known in
Also it is known simply as "Torrespaña".
The Torre Espacio (Spanish for
In November 2006, its structure surpassed the height of the Gran Hotel Bali, thus becoming the tallest building in
The building project was featured on the Discovery Channel's Build It Bigger series due to the skyscraper's unique form and shape.
The In 1960, due to the construction of the Great Dam of Aswan and the consequent threat it posed to certain monuments and archeological sites, UNESCO made an international call to save this rich historical patrimony. As a sign of gratitude for the help provided by
It has been rebuilt in one of the most beautiful parks in
The Royal Palace of Madrid (Spanish: Palacio Real de Madrid, also called Palacio de Oriente, "The palace is located on
The site of the palace dates from a 10th-century fortress, called mayrit, constructed as an outpost by Mohammed I, Emir of Córdoba and inherited after 1036 by the independent Moorish Kingdom of Toledo. After
The Antiguo Alcázar ("
The palace is the largest in
Below the palace, to the west, are the gardens of the Campo del Moro that were given this name due to the fact that here in the year 1109, Muslim leader Ali Ben Yusuf, encamped with his men in the atempt to recapture Madrid and its Alcázar (fortress) from the Christians. The east façade of the palace gives onto the Plaza de Oriente and the Teatro Real operahouse. To the south is a vast square, the Plaza de la Armas, surrounded by narrow wings of the palace, and to the south of that is located the Catedral de la Almudena. To the north are the Jardines de Sabatini (
The wedding banquet of Prince Felipe and Letizia Ortiz took place on
The Puerta de Europa towers (Gate of Europe or Europe's Gate or just Torres KIO) are two twin office buildings in
After the Torres KIO fraud case, KIO had to sell the buildings, which are now owned by Cajamadrid and Realia.
In the 1995 Satanic comedy film El día de la Bestia, the buildings are said to be shaped as a diabolical signature and the place of birth of the Anti-Christ on Christmas Day of 1995.
The Palacio Real de Aranjuez is a residence of the King of Spain, one of the Spanish royal sites. It is located in Aranjuez (It was commissioned by Philip II and designed by Juan Bautista de Toledo and Juan de Herrera, who also designed El Escorial. It was completed during the reign of Ferdinand VI; Charles III had two wings added to it. A smaller palace, the Casa del Labrador, also stands on the grounds.
Its huge gardens, built to relieve its royal residents from the dust and drought of the Spanish meseta using the waters of the adjacent
The museum's important art and historical collections include the Museo de la Vida en Palacio, describing the daily lives of Spain's monarchs, and the Museo de las Falúas Reales, housing the most important extant collection of Spain's royal pleasure barges.
The
In 1905 the building of a new and important street Gran Via was confirmed and the former insurance company La Unión y el Fénix opened, to French and Spanish architects, a design competition for its new headquarters on the corner of this street.
French architects Jules Fevrier and Raymond Fevrier won the competition and started working on this project in 1907. Seven homes were demolished to facilitate the project. Spanish architect Luis Esteve finished the construction in 1910. The building was inaugurated on
The building is of very fine proportions with an impressive dome which is visible from some distance. Originally the dome was crowned with a phoenix in reference to the insurance company however in 1975, Metropolis bought the building and put a winged statue of victory in its place designed by Federico Coullaut Valera.
Las Ventas is a famous bullring in
Situated in the barrio of Guindalera in the district of Salamanca, it was inaugurated on
This bullring was designed by an architect called Espeliú. Its style is Mudéjar (Moorish) with pottery incrustations. The seats are situated in 10 "tendidos". The price of the seats depends upon how close they are to the "arena" and whether they are in the sun or the shade (the latter being more expensive). The bullfighting season starts in March and ends in December; bullfights are held every day during the San Isidro Fiesta, and every Sunday or holiday during the season. Bullfights start at 6 or
"Las Ventas" is located in the east of
From 1913 to 1920, the national celebration (bullfighting) gained such an important status that
A family called Jardón gave the land to the Deputy of Madrid, provided that they could run the arena for fifty years. The deputation accepted the proposal on
"Las Ventas" was finished in 1929 and two years later,
"Las Ventas" is divided in a ring or "arena", and a group of zones called "patios". Its architecture is mudejar, with pottery representations of the heraldic crests of the different Spanish provinces on them. The "arena" has a diameter of 60 meters. The seating capacity is divided into 10 "tendidos" (group of 27 rows around the "arena"), some of them in the shade and the rest in the sun. The prices of the tickets are more expensive in the shade and in the rows which are nearer to the "arena" or crowned by bleachers, gradins, boxes and covered grandstands.
The president of the 'corrida' sits in the 10th Tendido. The Royal Box is of outstanding design, with its arabesque architecture [mudejar], a complete bathroom and a lift. Opposite to the Royal Box, in the covered grandstand roof, is the clock. The bullring has five gates, plus three more called "toriles", from where the bulls enter the arena. The door of "cuadrillas", between "tendidos" 3 and 4, has access to the horse yard. In this door, the "paseillo" starts and the "picadores"(those who punish the bull with the lance) come out from here to the arena ("suerte de varas"). The dragging door, that leads to the skinning room, is between "tendidos" 1 and 2. The famous "Puerta Grande" (Big Door), also called the Door of Madrid, is between "tendidos" 7 and 8. Going out through this door, especially during the Fiesta of San Isidro, is every bullfighter's ambition. There is also a chapel and a small sick bay with two operating rooms.
El Escorial, the Royal Monastery of
five kilometres away. These sites have a dual nature; that is to say, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, they were places in which the temporal power of the Spanish monarchy and the ecclesiastic
al predominance of the Roman Catholic religion in
Philip II of
n, partly successful. However, the same counter-reformational impulse had a much more benign expression, thirty years earlier, in Philip's decision to build the complex at El Escorial.
Philip engaged the Spanish architect, Juan Bautista de Toledo, to be his collabo
rator in the design of El Escorial. Juan Bautista had spent the greater part of his career in
On
Lorenzo of El Escorial a World Heritage Site. It is an extremely popular tourist attraction, often visited by day-trippers from
El Escorial is situated at the foot of
mines in the Guadarrama. (In English, the word "scoria" is now used, almost exclusively, in connection with the ejecta of volcanoes, but, originally, "scoria" was the name for the silicate slag left over from the smelting of metallic ores. The word is derived from the Greek word for "refuse" or "trash".)
This austere location, hardly obvious as a site for a royal palace, was chosen by King Philip II of
The building’s cornerstone was laid on
Since then, El Escorial has been the burial site for most of the Spanish kings of the last five centuries, Bourbons as well as Habsburgs. The Royal Pantheon contains the tombs of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V (who ruled
The floor plan of the building is in the form of a gridiron. The traditional belief is that this design was chosen in honor of St. Lawrence, who, in the third century CE, was martyred by being roasted to death on a grill. St. Lawrence’s feast day is August 10, the date when, in 1557, the Battle of St. Quentin took place.
In fact, however, the origin of the building’s layout is quite controversial. The grill-like shape, which did not fully emerge until Herrera eliminated from the original conception the six interior towers of the facade, was, by no means, unique to El Escorial. Other buildings had been constructed with interior courtyards fronting on churches or chapels; King's College, Cambridge, dating from 1441, is one such example; the old Ospedale Maggiore, Milan's first hospital, begun in 1456 by Antonio Filarete, is another grid-like building with interior courtyards. In fact, palaces of this approximate design were commonplace in the Byzantine and Arab world. Strikingly similar to El Escorial is the layout of the Alcázar of Seville and the design of the
Nonetheless, the most persuasive theory for the origin of the floor plan is that it is based on descriptions of the Temple of Solomon by the Judeo-Roman historian, Flavius Josephus: a portico followed by a courtyard open to the sky, followed by a second portico and a second courtyard, all flanked by arcades and enclosed passageways, leading to the "holy of holies". Statues of David and Solomon on either side of the entrance to the basilica of El Escorial lend further weight to the theory that this is the true origin of the design. A more personal connection can be drawn between the David-warrior figure, representing Charles V, and his son, the stolid and solomonically prudent Philip II. Echoing the same theme, a fresco in the center of El Escorial's library, a reminder of Solomon’s legendary wisdom, affirms Philip's preoccupation with the great Jewish king, his thoughtful and logical character, and his extraordinary monumental temple.
The
Built primarily from locally-quarried gray granite, square and sparely-ornamented, El Escorial is austere, even forbidding, in its outward appearance, seemingly more like a fortress than a monastery or palace. It takes the form of a gigantic quadrangle, approximately 224 metres by 153 metres, which encloses a series of intersecting passageways and courtyards and chambers. At each of the four corners is a square tower surmounted by a spire, and, near the center of the complex (and taller than the rest) rise the pointed befries and round dome of the basilica. Philip's instructions to
Aside from its explicit purposes, the complex is also an enormous storehouse of art. It displays masterworks by Titian, Tintoretto, El Greco, Velázquez, Roger van der Weyden, Paolo Veronese, Alonso Cano, José de Ribera, Claudio Coello and others. The library contains thousands of priceless manuscripts; for example, the collection of the sultan, Zidan Abu Maali, who ruled
In order to describe the parts of the great building in a coherent fashion, it may be useful to undertake an imaginary walking tour, beginning with the main entrance at the center of the western facade:
The basilica of San Lorenzo el Real, the central building in the El Escorial complex, was originally designed, like most of the late Gothic cathedrals of western Europe, to take the form of a Latin cross. The Latin-cross form calls for a long nave on the west-east axis intersected by a pair of shorter trancepts, one to the north and one directly opposite, to the south, about three-quarters of the way between the west entrance and the high altar. (The Latin cross, with its long descending arm, is the form most familiar to western Christians as the cross on which Christ was supposed to have been crucified.) This plan was modified by Juan de Herrera to that of a Greek cross, a form with all four arms of equal length. Coincident with this shift in approach, the bell towers at the western end of the church were somewhat reduced in size and the small half-dome intended to stand over the altar was replaced with a full circular dome over the center of the church, where the four arms of the Greek cross meet.
Clearly Juan Bautista de Toledo's experience with the dome of St. Peter's basilica in
The most highly-decorated part of the church is the area surrounding the high altar. Behind the altar is a three-tiered reredos, made of red granite and jasper, nearly twenty-eight metres tall, adorned with gilded bronze statuary by Leone Leoni, and three sets of religious paintings commissioned by Philip II. To either side are gilded life-size bronzes of the kneeling family groups of Charles and Philip, also by Leoni with help from his son Pompeo. In a shallow niche at the center of the lowest level is a repository for the physical elements of the communion ceremony, a so-called "House of the Sacrament", designed by Juan de Herrera in jasper and bronze.
To decorate the reredos (or altar screen) the king's preferences were Michelangelo or Titian, but both of these giants were already more than eighty years old and in frail health. (Michelangelo died in 1564, scarcely a year after the first stones at El Escorial were laid, and Titian, when asked to come to
Situated next to the main altar of the Basilica, the residence of King Philip II is made up of a series of austerely decorated rooms. It features a window from which the king could observe Mass from his bed when incapacitated by the gout that afflicted him.
Fresco paintings here depict the most important Spanish military victories.
This consists of twenty-six marble sepulchers containing the remains of the kings and ruling queens (the only ruling queen since Philip II was Isabella II), of the Habsburg and Bourbon dynasties from Charles I (Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) to the present, except for Philip V and Ferdinand VI.
The sepulchers also contain the remains of royal consorts who were mothers or fathers of kings. The only king-consort is Francis of Asis de Bourbon, husband of queen Isabella II. The most recent remains in the sepulcher are those of King Alfonso XIII. Those of his wife, as well as his son Juan de Borbón and daughter-in-law Maria Mercedes (the parents of the current king, Juan Carlos I), lie at a prepared place called a pudridero (decaying chamber).
There are two pudrideros at El Escorial, one for the Pantheon of the Kings and the other for that of the Princes, which can only be visited by monks from the Monastery. In these rooms, the remains of the deceased are placed in a small leaden urn, which in turn will be placed in the marble sepulchers of the pantheon after the passage of fifty years, the estimated time necessary for the complete decomposition of the bodies.
When the remains of Juan de Borbón and Maria Mercedes are deposited in the royal Pantheon, they will, in a sense, constitute exceptions to tradition. One of these lies in that the Counts of Barcelona, Don Juan y Doña María de las Mercedes, were never able to reign, due to the institution of the Second Republic and the exile of Alfonso XIII and his entire family, though they are the parents of a king. Another exception lies in the case of Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, who, although the wife of a king, was never the mother of a king in the strict sense. Some, however, do consider Don Juan to have been de jure King of Spain, which in turn would make Queen Victoria Eugenia the mother of a king. With the interment of their remains, all the sepulchers in the Royal Pantheon will be filled, and no decision has yet been announced as to the final resting place of the currently living members of the Royal Family.
There has already been one exception to this old tradition: Queen Elisabeth of Bourbon is for the moment the only queen in the pantheon who has not been mother to a king. That is because her only son, the presumed heir to the throne, died after her.
The walls of polished
All of the wood used in El Escorial comes from the ancient forests of Sagua La Grande, on the so-called Golden Coast of Cuba.
Completed in 1888, this is the final resting place of princes, princesses and queens who were not mothers of kings. With floors and ceiling of white marble, the tomb of Prince John of
Consists of works of the German, Flemish, Venetian, Italian and Spanish schools from the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Its eleven rooms showcase the tools, cranes and other materials used in the construction of the edifice, as well as reproductions of blueprints and documents related to the project, containing some very interesting facts.
Constructed at the order of Philip II, a great lover of nature, these constitute an ideal place for repose and meditation. Manuel Azaña, who studied in the monastery's Augustinian-run school, mentions them in his Memorias (Memoirs) and his play El jardín de los frailes (The Garden of the Friars). Students at the school still use it today to study and pass the time.
Philip II donated his personal collection of documents to the building, and also undertook the acquisition of the finest libraries and works of
The vault of the library's ceiling is decorated with frescoes depicting the seven liberal arts: Rhetoric, Dialectic, Music, Grammar, Arithmetic, Geometry and Astronomy.
Following a rule approved by the Council of Trent dealing with the veneration of saints, Philip II donated to the monastery one of the largest reliquaries in all of Catholicism. The collection consists of some 7500 relics, which are stored in 570 sculpted reliquaries designed by Juan de Herrera. Most of them were constructed by the artisan, Juan de Arfe Villafañe. These reliquaries are found in highly varied forms (heads, arms, pyramidal cases, coffers, etc.) and are distributed throughout the monastery, with the most important being concentrated in the basilica.
El Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales, literally the Monastery of Barefoot Royals, resides in the former
The demographics of the convent slowly changed over time, and by the 20th century, all of the sisters were in poverty. The convent maintained the riches of its past, but it was forbidden to auction any of the items off or spend any of the money it received from the dowries. The state intervened when it saw that the sisters were literally starving, and the pope granted a special dispensation to open the convent as a museum.
Alfonso, Duke of Anjou and Cádiz (died 1989) is buried in the Chapel of Saint John the Baptist next to his elder son Francisco (died 1984). Alfonso's younger brother Gonzalo (died 2000) is buried in the Chapel of Saint Sebastian.
Today the Monastery invites visitors into the once secret halls of
Tours are given daily and almost exclusively in Spanish.
Santa María la Real de La Almudena is a Catholic cathedral in
Plans for the construction of a new cathedral for
The Neo-Gothic interior is uniquely modern, with chapels and statues of contemporary artists, in heretogeneous styles, from historical revivals to "pop-art" decor.
The Neo-Romanesque crypt houses a 16th century image of the Virgen de la Almudena. Further along, the Calle Mayor is the site of excavations which have unearthed remains of Moorish and medieval city walls.
Bolsa de Madrid (Madrid Stock Exchange) is the largest and most international of Spain's four regional stock exchanges located in Barcelona, Valencia, and Bilbao that trade shares and convertible bonds and fixed income securities, both government and private-sector debt. Bolsa de Madrid is owned by Bolsas y Mercados Españoles.
The reorganization of
The Bolsa de Madrid was officially founded in 1831. As required by Spanish law, it is managed and operated by the Sociedad Rectora de la Bolsa de Valores de Madrid S.A., a corporation organized under the laws of the
The Puerta de Alcalá ("Alcalá Gate") is a monument in the Plaza de la Independencia("
It was built by order of king Carlos III as a monumental gate in the city wall to pass the road which leads to the city of
