To say Madrid de los Austrias is to say old Madrid. The Madrid that flourished as capital of the Habsburg dynasty, in the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, from the reign of Philip II to that of Charles II.
But what does this area of the city have to make it so special? We find squares that constitute the center of life, such as the Plaza Mayor and the Plaza de la Villa but also the great lung of Madrid – the Retiro Park – the Royal Palace and its gardens of the Campo del Moro, the Botanical Garden, the Paseo and Prado Museum … in short an enclave full of the most cultural footprint, in an irregular layout of streets that formed the origin of the city.
Very close to the Royal Palace are the remains of the old city wall, which recalls the origin of the “Madrid cats” and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Almudena – popularly known as La Almudena – for the image of the Virgin, protected from Arab attacks, keeping it in a battlement of it.
Madrid de los Austrias is undoubtedly an emblem of the city: its origin but also an area full of life, charm and essential culture.
