59 Facts About Madrid

Site of modern-day Madrid has been occupied since prehistoric times, and there are archaeological remains of the Celtic Carpetani settlement, Roman villas, a Visigoth basilica near the church of Santa Maria de la Almudena and three Visigoth necropoleis near Casa de Campo, Tetuan and Vicalvaro.

Madrid, located near Alcala, remained a borderland for a while, suffering a number of razzias during the Almoravid period and its walls were destroyed in 1110.

Since 1188, Madrid won the right to be a city with representation in the courts of Castile.

Since the mid-13th century and up to the late 14th century, the concejo of Madrid vied for the control of the Real de Manzanares territory against the concejo of Segovia, a powerful town north of the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range, characterised by its repopulating prowess and its husbandry-based economy, contrasted by the agricultural and less competent in repopulation town of Madrid.

Thanks to this, the city of Madrid became the political centre of the monarchy, being the capital of Spain except for a short period between 1601 and 1606, in which the Court was relocated to Valladolid.

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Anti-clericalism and Catholicism lived side by side in Madrid; the burning of convents initiated after riots in the city in May 1931 worsened the political environment.

Madrid was one of the most heavily affected cities in the Spanish Civil War.

The south of Madrid became heavily industrialized, and there was significant immigration from rural areas of Spain.

Madrid's newly built north-western districts became the home of a newly enriched middle class that appeared as result of the 1960s Spanish economic boom, while the south-eastern periphery became a large working-class area, which formed the base for active cultural and political movements.

Madrid was the scene of some of the most important events of the time, such as the mass demonstrations of support for democracy after the failed coup, 23-F, on 23 February 1981.

Since the late 1970s and through the 1980s Madrid became the center of the cultural movement known as la Movida.

Madrid was a centre of the anti-austerity protests that erupted in Spain in 2011.

Madrid has a Mediterranean climate with continental influences in the western half of the city transitioning to a semi-arid climate (BSk) in the eastern half.

Precipitation is typically concentrated in the autumn and spring, and, together with Athens, which has similar annual precipitation, Madrid is the European capital with less annual precipitation.

Wider Madrid region is the EU region with the highest average life expectancy at birth.

Madrid is charged with giving impetus to the municipal policies, managing the action of the rest of bodies and directing the executive municipal administration.

Madrid is entitled to preside over the meetings of the Pleno, although this responsibility can be delegated to another municipal councillor.

Madrid is administratively divided into 21 districts, which are further subdivided into 131 neighbourhoods:.

Nor has Madrid retained much Renaissance architecture, other than the Bridge of Segovia and the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales.

Madrid pushed forward the construction of the Prado Museum, the Puerta de Alcala, the Royal Observatory, the Basilica of San Francisco el Grande, the Casa de Correos in Puerta del Sol, the Real Casa de la Aduana, and the General Hospital (which now houses the Reina Sofia Museum and Royal Conservatory of Music).

The expansion of Madrid developed under the Plan Castro, resulting in the neighbourhoods of Salamanca, Arguelles, and Chamberi.

Madrid has the second highest number of aligned trees in the world, with 248, 000 units, only exceeded by Tokyo.

Madrid's citizens have access to a green area within a 15-minute walk.

Great bulk of the most important parks in Madrid are related to areas originally belonging to the royal assets.

Madrid is the 5th most important leading Centre of Commerce in Europe and ranks 11th in the world.

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Economy of Madrid has become based increasingly on the service sector.

Nevertheless, Madrid continues to hold the position of Spain's second industrial centre after Barcelona, specialising particularly in high-technology production.

Madrid is an important centre for trade fairs, many of them coordinated by IFEMA, the Trade Fair Institution of Madrid.

In terms of longer-distance transport, Madrid is the central node of the system of autovias and of the high-speed rail network, which has brought major cities such as Seville and Barcelona within 2.

Madrid is the seat of the World Tourism Organization and the International Tourism Fair (FITUR).

Madrid is an important film and television production hub, whose content is distributed throughout the Spanish-speaking world and abroad.

Madrid is often seen as the entry point into the European media market for Latin American media companies, and likewise the entry point into the Latin American markets for European companies.

Madrid is the headquarters of media groups such as Radiotelevision Espanola, Atresmedia, Mediaset Espana Comunicacion, and Movistar+, which produce numerous films, television shows and series which are distributed globally on various platforms.

Madrid is considered one of the top European destinations concerning art museums.

CaixaForum Madrid is a post-modern art gallery in the centre of Madrid, next to the Prado Museum.

Madrid has been one of the great centres of Spanish literature.

Some of the most distinguished writers of the Spanish Golden Century were born in Madrid, including Lope de Vega, who reformed the Spanish theatre, a project continued by Calderon de la Barca (author of Life is a Dream).

Madrid is home to the Real Academia Espanola, the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language, which governs, with statutory authority, over Spanish, preparing, publishing, and updating authoritative reference works on it.

Madrid is home to another international cultural institution, the Instituto Cervantes, whose task is the promotion and teaching of the Spanish language as well as the dissemination of the culture of Spain and Hispanic America.

Madrid is an international hub of highly active and diverse nightlife with bars, dance bars and nightclubs staying open well past midnight.

Teatro Real is the main opera house in Madrid, located just in front of the Royal Palace, and its resident orchestra is the Madrid Symphony Orchestra.

Already very popular among the madrilenian people, as Madrid became the capital of the Hispanic Monarchy in 1561 the city council pulled efforts to promote his canonization; the process started in 1562.

In 2007, this was recognised by the European Pride Owners Association when Madrid hosted Europride, the Official European Pride Parade.

In 2017, Madrid celebrated the 40th anniversary of their first Pride Parade by hosting the WorldPride Madrid 2017.

Since Spain legalised same-sex marriage in July 2005, Madrid has become one of the largest hot spots for LGBT culture.

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Real Madrid, founded in 1902, compete in La Liga and play their home games at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

Atletico Madrid, founded in 1903, compete in La Liga and play their home games at the Metropolitano Stadium.

Real Madrid Baloncesto, founded in 1931, compete in Liga ACB and play their home games at the Palacio de Deportes.

Complutense University of Madrid is the second largest university in Spain after UNED and one of the oldest universities in the world.

The Complutense University of Madrid was founded in Alcala de Henares, old Complutum, by Cardinal Cisneros in 1499.

Autonomous University of Madrid was instituted under the leadership of the physicist, Nicolas Cabrera.

Madrid is a good destination for business schools and a city much desired by foreign students.

In 2018, Madrid banned all non-resident vehicles from its downtown areas.

Madrid is served by several roads and three modes of public surface transport, and two airports, one of them being almost two different airports.

In 2016 it was announced that Madrid will stop the use of all diesel powered cars and trucks within the next decade.

Madrid is the centre of the most important roads of Spain.

In terms of longer-distance transport, Madrid is the central node of the system of autovias, giving the city direct fast road links with most parts of Spain and with France and Portugal.

Madrid has reached twin towns, sister city 'agreements' with:.

Madrid is part of the Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities establishing brotherly relations with the following cities through the issuing of a collective statement in October 1982:.