Description of the attraction
Gran Vía is one of the central streets of Madrid, unofficially recognized as the main street of the capital. The name of the street, reaching a length of 1315 meters and 35 meters wide, is translated from Spanish as "great way" or "big road". The beginning of the construction of Gran Vía was laid on April 5, 1910. For the implementation of the street project, about three hundred buildings were demolished, 14 streets were destroyed and another 54 streets were cut off. To commemorate the beginning of construction, the first stone in the wall of one of the buildings was solemnly hollowed out by King Alfonso XIII. Gran Vía recently celebrated its centenary; on the eve of this event, a magnificent bronze model was installed here.
Initially, Gran Vía was divided into 3 independent streets, each of which was built in a different period of time and had its own name - after the names of the politicians in power at that time. During the Spanish Civil War, the street was renamed first to Avenida de Rusia (street of Russia) and then to Avenida de la Unión Soviética (street of the Soviet Union) in gratitude for the Soviet government's support of the Spanish republic. Under Franco, the street was renamed Avenida de José Antonio (José Antonio street), and it received its present name only in 1981.
The buildings located on Gran Via and built at the beginning of the 20th century are dominated by such architectural styles as modernism, plateresco, neo-mudahar, neo-renaissance, art deco. Today, many of these buildings have been converted into shopping malls, cinemas and hotels. The largest and one of the most interesting buildings on Gran Vía is Telefonica. This 81-meter-high building, considered the first skyscraper in Europe, for a long time housed the office of the Spanish National Telephone Company.
