Plaza de Cibeles

This afternoon and evening I went walking around the Plaza de Cibeles area to see architecture, and not to my surprise, I saw some dramatic turn-of-the-last-century buildings. Nothing else has lacked drama in this city, so why should this be any different? I’ve been down Gran Via several times and have noticed the elaborate facades of this vital and energetic street. I hadn’t followed it down to the Plaza de Cibeles, but knew I was in for even more drama.

Late nineteen/early twentieth century Madrid must have been all about conspicuous consumption. The Metropolis Building is Beaux-Arts on steroids. There’s a government building nearby that has two huge pedestals rising above the roofline and each has an enormous bronze chariot with horses and rider. It’s what Liberace might have designed if he were there. I’d like to have been a fly on the wall of that design meeting where they decided that one chariot just wouldn’t be enough.

One building had this what-the-hell-is-that-? crown and shield thing on top, and another had a domed turret that looked like it was frosted by a bakery, and topped with horses and God knows what else. It looked like the Sicilian wedding cake from hell. Garish architecture is always a sign of a period of excessive prosperity, and while I don’t know the circumstances of Madrid during this era, the city was most certainly rolling in the dough. Rivaling businessmen went into competition with each other and the result was a district full of ostentatious buildings. And while they are all of that, they are at the same time endearing, and I wouldn’t want to change a thing about them. Most of them are just very elaborate but tasteful buildings. It’s always the screamers that you remember most …

The fountain in the center of the Plaza de Cibeles was built in the 1700s and is much older than the buildings that surround it. The huge and elaborate city hall wasn’t built until the early twentieth century and is a huge landmark in this city. I went to the tower’s observation deck this evening to see a panoramic view of Madrid by night, but unfortunately just couldn’t capture the skyline on my little pocket digital camera. This weekend I hope to go South from the Plaza de Cebeles to the Museo del Prado, the Museo Reina Sofia, and the Estación Atocha …