Description of the attraction
The Alcalá Gate, located in the center of Madrid, on Independence Square next to the Buen Retiro Park, is one of the city's main monuments.
The first Alcala Gate was erected in 1598 by order of King Philip III in honor of the arrival in Madrid of his wife Queen Margaret of Austria. The composition of the first gate consisted of a central arch, decorated on top with a stone statue of the Mother of God, and small annexes on both sides of it. The Alcalá gate was one of the main gates to Madrid, there were five such gates in total.
Almost two centuries later, in 1769, King Charles III decides to demolish the old gates, erecting in their place new ones, wider and more majestic than the previous ones, which were supposed to become a symbol of the renewed Madrid. A large number of famous architects of that time took up the development of projects for a new monument. But in the end, the project of the architect Francesco Sabatini won. The opening of the new gate, in the form of which two styles are mixed - baroque and classicism, took place in 1778.
The gate is a structure of granite stone with five spans, with three central spans - with semicircular arches, and two lateral ones - rectangular. The facades of the building are decorated with pilasters, columns, sculptural images of lion heads and four virtues - Wisdom, Justice, Courage and Moderation. Above the central arch is carved the inscription “Rege Carolo III. Anno MDCCLXXVIII ", which is translated from Latin as" King Charles III, 1778 ".
