Plaza Mayor at sunrise, Madrid, Spain
Madrid, Spain – April 30, 2018: Overview of Plaza Mayor (English Main Square) during sunrise.
The Plaza Mayor was first built (1580–1619) during Philip III’s reign and is a central plaza in the city of Madrid; is rectangular in shape and is surrounded by three-story residential buildings having 237 balconies facing the Plaza. It has a total of nine entrance ways. The Casa de la Panadería (Bakery House), serving municipal and cultural functions, dominates the Plaza Mayor.
There is a bronze statue of King Philip III at the center of the square, created in 1616 by Jean Boulogne and Pietro Tacca.
The Plaza Mayor represents the work of Juan de Villanueva, one of Spain’s most famous neoclassical architects, who managed to reconstruct it after several fires suffered over the years.