Barrio de Salamanca Flashcards
Calle Serrano
The street is named after General Serrano, who had lived on this street and had conspired with Antoine, Duke of Montpensier, and Generals Prim and Sagasta to depose the Bourbons in what is known as the 1868 Glorious Revolution,
It is home to many flagship luxury stores such as (by order from Goya to Puerta de Alcalá): Loewe, Michael Kors, Spanish clothing designer Purificación García, the Embassies of Denmark and Norway, Spanish shoe design at Camper, and then further down we have Bimba y Lola, Versace and Carolina Herrera down on the corner.
Paisaje de la Luz
The Landscape of Light or Paisaje de la Luz is a recently created area that contains important historical monuments and buildings –mostly from the 18th century– devoted to the Arts and Sciences.
In 2021, it became the first area in the city of Madrid to be granted UNESCO World Heritage status, making it the 5th UNESCO World Heritage site in the Region of Madrid alongside the El Escorial Monastery, the nearby city of Alcalá de Henares’ Old Town, the royal palace complex at Aranjuez and the Beech tree grove nature reserve in the mountain town of Montejo, known as the Hayedo de Montejo.
Just a few blocks to the south, in that direction, you’ll find a collection of 18th century structures that were geared at research and science that include the Cabinet of Natural History - which is now the Prado Museum - the Royal Academy of Science, the Royal Botanical Gardens as well as the Royal Observatory.
Puerta de Alcalá
What you can see in front of us is the Neoclassical 18th century Puerta de Alcalá or Alcalá Gate which stands at the site of and old entrance to the city that existed since King Philip IV expanded the walls of Madrid back in 1625. The old path that led out of it goes to the nearby town of Alcalá de Henares, about a half hour to the east.
Given that Madrid in the late 18th century still looked rather medieval, Bourbon King Charles III commissioned Francesco Sabatini to construct a much more grandiose gateway into the city through which an expanded road to the city of Alcalá would be built. It was inaugurated in 1778.
It is mainly constructed out of granite from Segovia.
