Puerta de Alcalá, and Plaza de Independencia
The Puerta de Alcalá was the entrance gateway to the walls that once surrounded the city of Madrid. Carlos III destroyed the gate that was originally built in 1599 and then commissioned Francisco Sabatini to rebuild the Puerta de Alcalá in the center of the busy Plaza de Independencia in 1764. Construction took nine years and the gate was finally finished in 1778. Sabatini's design called for a neo-Classical granite gate with three large archways. Each of the archways is decorated with a lion's head, sculpted by Roberto Michel. Statues by Francisco Guttiérrez adorn the very top of the gate.

Fun Facts

• The Puerta de Alcalá was showered by a burst of canon shrapnel from the Spanish Civil War in 1823. You can still see the marks today.


• The Puerta de Alcalá is now classified as a National Monument.


• Puerta means "gate" or "door" in English.

Links

Puerta de Alcalá