Plaza Mayor

You are in the Plaza Mayor, a vast enclosed and arcaded square that for centuries was the main stage of public life in Madrid. But it did not always look like this.

1From outskirts market to Court square

Before the square there was an open-air market, the Plaza del Arrabal, outside the medieval wall, where the roads to Toledo and Atocha met. When Philip II moved the Court to Madrid, he commissioned Juan de Herrera to remodel it. The first building was the Casa de la Panadería, begun in 1590 by Diego Sillero. In 1617 Philip III commissioned Juan Gómez de Mora to complete the ensemble, which was finished in 1619.

2Market, festivities and justice

The square served as a market, a bullring and the setting for royal proclamations, beatifications and autos-da-fé. Its balconies were rented out as boxes, and the Casa de la Panadería served as a grandstand for the royal family.

3Three fires and a rebuilding

The buildings, full of timber, burned in 1631, again in the 1670s and, above all, in 1790. After that last fire, Juan de Villanueva directed the reconstruction: he lowered the buildings, unified the façades and closed the corners with large arches. The work dragged on until the mid-19th century. What you see today is, in essence, Villanueva’s square.

The equestrian statue of Philip III, by Giambologna and Pietro Tacca, was not placed in the centre of the square until 1848.

4What to look out for

• The Casa de la Panadería, on the north side.
• The Casa de la Carnicería, opposite.
• The corner arches, a trace of Villanueva’s remodelling.