Description of the attraction
The Arch of Victory is a Madrid tourist attraction located in the Plaza de la Moncloa next to Oeste Park outside the city center. It stands on the A Coruña road in the Moncloa-Aravaca area.
The huge triumphal arch looks older than it really is - it was built by order of the last dictator Franco from 1950 to 1956 in memory of the victory of the national army over the Republicans in the Civil War (1936-1939). The architects working on the project were Modesto Lopez Otero and Pascal Bravo Sanfeliu. Today, the arch is also known as the Puerta de Moncloa - Gate of Moncloa, a name preferred by those who dislike the mention of the bloody dictator's legacy. Reaching 40 meters in height, the impressive Victory Arch is crowned with a green statue of a four-horse carriage driven by the goddess Minerva. The building is adorned with several Latin inscriptions commemorating the victory and the construction of a new campus destroyed during the military conflict of the 1930s. It is known that Franco regularly drove past the monumental building, heading to the center of Madrid from his residence, Palaio El Pardo. Today, the arch is closed to visitors, although there is a small room inside it with a model of the nearby university and original plans for the arch itself.
Near the Victory Arch is Mirador del Faro, also known as Faro de Mokloa and Faro de Madrid, a futuristic tower built in 1992 as a communications center. Unfortunately, its observatory, located at an altitude of 92 meters, has been closed since 2005. And behind the Victory Arch stands the Monument to the Fallen, designed in 1949 by the architect Manuel Herrero de Palacios, a circular building crowned with a dome, which today houses the Municipal Council of the Moncloa-Aravaca region.
