Discover Madrid...
Madrid, culture and leisure capital
When the Court was established in Madrid at the time of Philip II (1561), the small town became the capital of a vast Empire in which the sun never set. From that moment onwards, there commenced the construction of churches and convents, palaces and other monumental civil buildings, which currently form part of what is known as the Madrid of the Hapsburgs, in the area surrounding the Plaza Mayor, one of the city’s tourist areas par excellence (the Monastery of the Encarnación, the Monastery of the Descalzas Reales, Plaza de la Villa)...