Register today! | Already registered? Sign in

traveldk.com

from Eyewitness Travel Guides: the world's bestselling travel guides
  • Personal guide
  • Open
Member image

Downtown Madrid : Puerta del Sol

Submit an attraction

Make sure your favorite shops, restaurants, hotels and more are listed.

Submit an attraction illustration
What’s on in Madrid
Illustration of a calendar
WIN WIN WIN

Win a digital camera & more in this month's competitions.

Win a digital camera and more
Download a podcast

Free podcasts Find free podcasts for Miami, Sicily and more.

Join our free monthly newsletter

Advertisement

Puerta del Sol

No one has rated this yet.
  • Review this attraction
  • Rate it
  • Are these details incorrect?

  • Ten streets radiate from this elliptical square, which for most madrileños is the real heart of the city. The name means “Gateway of the Sun” although the actual gateway was demolished in 1570. Of numerous historic events to take place here, the most dramatic occurred during the 1808 insurrection when snipers fired on one of Napoleon’s soldiers, provoking a massacre. Dominating the south side of the square is the 18th-century Casa de Correos, a post office which later became the Ministry of the Interior and the headquarters of General Franco’s secret police. A marker in front of the building indicates “kilómetro cero” , from which all distances in Spain are calculated. In the centre of the square is a statue of Carlos III and, on the corner of Calle del Carmen, a bronze statue of a bear climbing an arbutus tree, the symbol of the city.

Practical Information
Write a review

If you were signed in, you could write a review here. Register for a free account, or if you're already a member, sign in.

Advertisement

 Latest guides
What’s on now in Madrid
  • Bodies: The Exhibition
    Having fascinated viewers in New York, London, Lisbon and Barcelona, Bodies: The Exhibition continues its success in an exhibition space on Madrid's Calle Goya. The controversial display reveals the... Read more
  • Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
    Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band continue to tour their first new studio album together for five years - Magic. This date is at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid. Read more
  • Madrid International Fashion Week
    Twice a year, the Juan Carlos I Exhibition Centre in Madrid hosts International Fashion Week (SIMM), the most important female fashion exhibition in the country. Read more
  • Vallecas Naval Battle
    Madrid's Vallecas district celebrate its patron saint, the Virgen del Carmen, with a good old-fashioned water fight. Dressed up as pirates, the local people use buckets, hoses and watering cans to... Read more