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During his days as king of Spain, Joseph Bonaparte carved out this stirrup-shaped space from the jumble of buildings to the east of the Palacio Real providing the view of the palace enjoyed today. The square was once an important meeting place for state occasions; kings, queens and dictators all made public appearances on the palace balcony facing the plaza. The many statues of early kings which stand here were originally intended for the palace roofline, but proved too heavy. The equestrian statue of Felipe IV in the centre of the square is by Italian sculptor Pietro.

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Noisy with traffic, chatter and policemen's whistles, the Puerta del Sol makes a fitting centre for Madrid. This is one of the city's most popular meeting places, and huge crowds converge here on their way to the shops and sights in the old part of the city. Today the "square" is shaped like half moon. A recent addition is the imposing statue of Carlos III. The Puerta del Sol has witnessed many important historical events. On 2 May 1808 the uprising against the occupying French forces began here, but the crowd, pitted against the well-armed French troops, was crushed. In 1912 the liberal Prime Minister Jose Canalejas was assassinated in the square and, in 1931, the Second Republic was proclaimed from the balcony of the Ministry of the Interior.

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The Palacio Real or Royal Palace is the largest and certainly one of the most impressive palaces in Europe. It has more than 2000 luxuriously decorated rooms, 50 of which can be visited. It is located on the east of Madrid's historic center, within walking distance of the Plaza de España.

Visitors enter the Palace via the large Plaza de la Armería. Some of the sumptuous rooms accessible to visitors are the 400m2 large dining room, the Sala de Porcelana (china room) and the Salón del Trono (throne room) with red velvet walls. The palace also includes the Arméria Real, the royal army museum. It contains a beautiful collection of armory, including King Charles V's armour suit.

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The Spanish Golden Age (in Spanish, Siglo de Oro) was a period of flourishing in arts and literature in Spain, coinciding with the political decline and fall of the Habsburgs (Philip III, Philip IV and Charles II). This term does not generally imply any great precision about dates, but it begins no earlier than 1492, with the completion of the reconquista and the voyages of Christopher Columbus to the New World, and politically ends no later than the Treaty of the Pyrenees between France and Habsburg Spain in 1659. The last great writer of the period, Pedro Calderon de la Barca, died in 1681 and his death is usually considered as the end of the Spanish Golden "Century" in the arts and literature.

The Habsburgs, both in Spain and Austria, were great patrons of art in their countries. El Escorial, the great royal monastery built by King Philip II of Spain, invited the attention of some of Europe's greatest architects and painters. Diego Velázquez, regarded as one of the most influential painters of European history and a greatly respected artist in his own time, cultivated a relationship with King Philip IV and his chief minister, the Count-Duke of Olivares, leaving us several portraits that demonstrate his style and skill. El Greco, another respected artist from the period, infused Spanish art with the styles of the Italian renaissance and helped create a uniquely Spanish style of painting. Some of Spain's greatest music is regarded as having been written in the period. Such composers as Tomás Luis de Victoria, Luis de Milán and Alonso Lobo helped to shape Renaissance music and the styles of counterpoint and polychoral music, and their influence lasted far into the Baroque period which resulted in a revolution of music. Spanish literature blossomed as well, most famously demonstrated in the work of Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote de la Mancha. Spain's most prolific playwright, Lope de Vega, wrote possibly as many as one thousand plays during his lifetime, of which over four hundred survive to the present day.

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Late 9th century Muhammad I founds a Moorish village outpost called Magerit, 'the place of many springs'.

1083 Alfonso VI, King of Castile and Léon, captures Madrid, and gives the locals their nickname of gatos (cats) because of the numerous cats in the town.

1172 Death of Isidro Merlo y Quintana, aged 90. Later San Isidro Labrador, the labourer, is made patron saint of Madrid. His feast day is 15 May.

1309 Preparing to attack Granada, Fernando IV summons the parliament, the Cortes of Castile, to meet in Madrid for the first time.

1465 King Enrique IV awards Madrid the title of muy noble y muy leal (most noble and loyal). The city has some 20,000 inhabitants.

1477 Having united the kingdoms of Aragón and Castile by their marriage, Fernando and Isabel visit Madrid.

1544 Carlos I calls Madrid imperial y coronada (imperial and crowned).

1556 The first printing press is set up in Madrid.

1561 Felipe II moves his court to Madrid, the geograph ical centre of the country and now the capital of a vast empire.

1600 Felipe III is the first Spanish king born in Madrid.

1605 The first edition of Cervantes' classic story, El Quijote (Don Quixote), is published.

1613 The first town fire service is set up in Madrid.

1621 Under Felipe IV the arts flourish with names such as artist Diego de Velázquez and play wrights Lope de Vega, Calderón de la Barca and Tirso de Molina.

1701 Felipe V of Bourbon enters Madrid; the first ruler of a united Spain, the 17-year-old from France speaks no Spanish.

1738 The first stone is laid for the Palacio Real (Royal Palace). It is finished in 1764.

1759 Carlos III ascends the throne. Nicknamed the 'best Lord Mayor of Madrid', he commissions grand buildings that are now home to the Museo del Prado and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.

1793 Diario de Madrid runs the first newspaper report of a bullfight.

1808 Napoleon's forces occupy Madrid. Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte, is named King José I of Spain. The annual 2 May holiday (2 de mayo) commemorates the Madrid uprising against the French, which also inspires two famous paintings by Goya (now in the Prado).

1814 Madrid is restored to Spanish rule under King Fernando VII.

1819 The Museo del Prado opens to the public.

1879 The PSOE (Spanish Socialist Party) is founded at the Casa Labra bar in Madrid.

1900 The city has one million inhabitants.

1919 The Metro is inaugurated by Alfonso XIII.

1931 Republicans sweep the elections and King Alfonso XIII steps down.

1936-9 The Spanish Civil War takes place. Republican Madrid is besieged by Franco's Nationalist army for three years.

1946 United Nations sanctions against the Franco regime begin. Sanctions remain until 1955.

1960 The city has 2.2 million inhabitants.

1975 Franco dies and Juan Carlos I is Spain's first king since 1931. Modernisation of the city begins.

1981 Spain's democracy is threatened by a military coup. Order is restored by Juan Carlos I.

1986 Spain joins the EEC (EU).

1992 Madrid is named as the European Capital of Culture.

1998 Alcalá de Henares is declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

2002 The Euro replaces the peseta as the national currency of Spain.

2004 Madrid mourns after 191 people are killed and many more injured by train bombs on March 11.

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Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (June 6, 1599 – August 6, 1660), commonly referred to as Diego Velázquez, was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary baroque period, important as a portrait artist. In addition to numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural significance, he painted scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family, other notable European figures, and commoners, culminating in the production of his masterpiece Las Meninas (1656).

From the first quarter of the nineteenth century, Velázquez's artwork was a model for the realist and impressionist painters, in particular Édouard Manet. Since that time, more modern artists, including Spain's Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí, as well as the Anglo-Irish painter Francis Bacon, have paid tribute to Velázquez by recreating several of his most famous works.

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