★★★★★ 5.0
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Círculo de Bellas Artes
Three thousand kilos of bronze Minerva sits on this roof, and here's the wild part: hauling her up in 1926 cost one million pesetas, while sculpting her only cost a tenth of that. Architect Antonio Palacios designed this building as something radical for Madrid—he went vertical like American skyscrapers instead of building the typical Spanish casino with hidden courtyards. Look at that limestone facade curving around Alcalá and Gran Vía, those pentagonal towers, the octagonal dome with its clock. King Alfonso XIII himself opened this place on November 8, 1926, and it became instant ground zero for Madrid's artistic and intellectual elite. This wasn't just a building—it literally shaped Spain's modernist revolution. Inside spreads fifteen thousand square meters of culture: galleries, theatre, cinema, concert halls, and artist studios. Four stone caryatids with Viennese details carved by Ángel García Díaz guard the main entrance. That Hall of Columns upstairs? Gambling revenue financed the entire construction debt, and locals still call the café downstairs La Pecera—the goldfish bowl—because you're on full display while sipping your coffee.
Did You Know?
- : The Círculo de Bellas Artes was originally founded in 1880 by a small group of artists and quickly became a hub for Spain’s cultural elite—legend has it that a young Pablo Picasso attended painting classes here, and literary giants like Ramón María del Valle-Inclán were regulars in its salons.
- The building’s façade is crowned by a striking 56-meter-tall statue of Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom and the arts, sculpted by Juan Luis Vasallo, making it one of the tallest statues atop a building in central Madrid.
- During the Spanish Civil War, the Círculo was used as a detention center, but after the conflict, it was revived in 1983 and became a pioneer in Spain for hosting international video art festivals and experimental workshops, helping to shape the country’s contemporary art scene.