The primitive Gates of Alcalá

The Puerta de Alcalá is currently one of the most relevant monumental references in the city of Madrid, although the present image must be imagined as the culmination of an evolutionary process that began at the end of the century. During the century this entrance had two different architectural structures before becoming a monument at the end of the 18th century. Its relevance as a triumphal entry, providing excellence to the rite of entry to the sovereign's city, gradually acquired importance.[10]​ From the Gate, heading down Alcalá Street, one accessed the Puerta del Sol, and from there through Mayor Street to the Alcázar.

During the plague pandemic that occurred in Madrid in 1580, mention was made of the door as a point of closure to the population. It was in a much more advanced position than the current one, at the intersection of Barquillo and Alcalá streets. This door is called "Plague Gate on Alcalá Street."[11] A decade later its position was moved forward again so that on October 24, 1599, the celebration of the entry into the city of Philip III's wife: Margaret of Austria, married in Valencia, took place. Calle de Alcalá was already being used as an alternative ceremonial entrance to Carrera de San Jerónimo. This event, and the decoration of the city throughout the procession of the procession, was what motivated the construction of the primitive factory: that is, of an entrance gate and the cobblestones of Alcalá Street.[4]​ This first itinerary of entry into Madrid from the Alcalá gate defined the subsequent itinerary of other royal entrances to the court and villa, establishing the route from Alcalá de Henares and the alcázar.

The architectural and ornamental layout of this first arch was the work of Patricio Cajés, responsible for the ephemeral architectures in royal celebrations.[4] It was located somewhat further west than the current one, at the intersection of Alcalá with Alfonso XI street. The Gate had a structure divided into three parts, it was made up of a central arch and two side openings. The entire door was built of brick, except for the pedestals and pilasters used for the vertical articulation of the factory, for which stone was used. Diego Sillero agreed to work on said work to give the marble plaster. The exterior face of the door was more decorated, while the interior was “plain and nothing more” (in the words of Diego Sillero). The sculptural decoration was made by Juan de Porres and Alonso López Maldonado. These primitive motifs were made in plaster, and due to their exposure to the elements they soon showed obvious signs of deterioration.[12] The decoration consisted of the royal arms and the Villa, with two figures representing Manto "Manto (mythology)") and his son Ocno, both founders of the city according to mythology: "Mantua Carpetana". The subsequent entry, already in 1615, of Isabel de Borbón in Madrid generated new plans to remodel the arch and its images. In 1624, the allegorical images were permanently removed, mainly due to the imminent risk of collapse that they presented.[13]​.

In 1636, part of the door was demolished and a single-span brick structure replaced the tripartite arch. The previously existing allegorical figures were replaced by other stone statues of Our Lady of Mercedes. Above the side arches there were statues of San Pedro Nolasco and Blessed Mariana de Jesús.[3] The appearance of this second door was simpler than the previous one. These architectural changes to the door were part of the renovations carried out on the Buen Retiro palace. After the construction of the palace, the façade of the Royal Site that was adjacent to the Alcalá road was literally attached to one of the ends of the door, while the other at the beginning of the Recoletos meadow had been practically embedded in the walls of the warehouse established since 1667 on the immediate grounds. The main architect of the town, Teodoro de Ardemans, was in charge of remodeling the surrounding space, a project that was completed around 1692. Despite these renovations, it is possible to think that it was relatively easy to build and demolish the door, following the canons imposed by the urban planning fashion of the time.[14] In a painting by Antonio Joli that shows a panoramic view of Alcalá Street in 1750, one of these doors can be seen. Alcalá.[15]​ The position shown in this painting is confirmed by the map made by Nicolas Chalmandrier in 1761.

The old gate was demolished in 1770 when Alcalá Street was expanded, then called "Camino Real de Aragón y Cataluña", with land taken from what is currently the Retiro Park, belonging to the Buen Retiro Palace.[16] This gate, which served as access to the city along the Camino Real de Aragón y Cataluña, was one of the five main ones that the wall that surrounded the town, along with those of Toledo "Puerta de Toledo (Madrid)"), Segovia"), Bilbao and Atocha "Puerta de Atocha (monument)").[17]​.

The bullring of Puerta de Alcalá

In 1754, Fernando VI, through the capital's Hospital Board, inaugurated the Puerta de Alcalá bullring, installed in front of the Buen Retiro Gardens. It had an initial capacity for 12,000 spectators and its location corresponds to the space that at the beginning of the century was delimited by Claudio Coello and Conde de Aranda streets. Its demolition and disappearance was caused by the projected "Plan Castro", later known as the Salamanca neighborhood "Salamanca (Madrid)"), due to the involvement of the Marquis of Salamanca in said urban development business.[18] That bullring of the Puerta de Alcalá would be the bullring of the town of Madrid for 120 years, between 1754 and 1874. It was replaced by the bullring of the Fuente del Berro, an installation that in turn would be replaced by the Monumental de las Ventas in 1934.[20]​.

Decision of a monumental door: Charles III

On December 9, 1759, Charles III (son of Philip V) entered Madrid from Naples to succeed his brother, the late Ferdinand VI, on the throne. Disembarking in Barcelona, ​​from there he made his first trip to the town and entered through the old Alcalá gate, which he did not like, so he decided to tear it down to erect a new one. This project was part of their city improvement plans. Already then there were three possible designs for the new gate: that of the military engineer José de Hermosilla and author of the layout of the Paseo del Prado,[21]​ that of the architect Ventura Rodríguez, and finally two design proposals by Francisco Sabatini.[5]​.

The architect Ventura Rodríguez submitted five projects to the competition, numbered and dated May 16, 1769, all of them were evaluated by Carlos III in just a couple of days.[22] Sabatini's three neoclassical-style designs were the same size and were nearly seventy feet high. The original project offered two different finishes, one with pilasters and the other with attached columns. Finally the two were merged into one and that is why the facades are different.[23]​ The design had influences from the Fuente dell'Acqua Paola") and the façade of the Barberini Palace in Rome. In the decree by which the door was declared a historical-artistic monument, it is described as "the first modern triumphal arch in Europe, which had not been erected since Roman times."[24]​ On May 18, 1769, Charles III decided that the project of Sabatini is the one that will be carried out.[25][26]​.

The construction of the New Gate of Alcalá

After the choice by Charles III of the combined design of the gate, a few days later (on May 27, 1769) the contracting of the works and services for what will be the "Nueva Puerta de Alcalá" began. The bases that Sabatini imposed were very meticulous and included details such as the type of material used, origin of quarries and required qualities. brick from the rivera was required, the white stone from Colmenar de Oreja (I preferred that stone from Nava Redonda, rejecting all that came from Mingo Rubio). On June 6, hiring was closed at Casa de la Villa. Of the six offers presented, Sabatini favored the one offered by Francisco de la Fuente. Despite this, Sabatini demanded a reduction in costs, which ended in disagreement. Finally the work fell to Santiago Feijoo y Cía, who was able to make a reduction of eight percent. For the beginning of the work, the Madrid City Council advanced money, mortgaging the tax on taverns. There is no evidence that this money was subsequently returned.[27]​ The works began at the beginning of 1770. At the beginning of the construction works, just when the buttresses of the new Alcalá gate were emerging, there were complaints, observing that the new gate disfigured the Real Pósito that was located nearby.

The superintendent of the work was Alonso Pérez Delgado, mayor of the town at the beginning of the works. The arch was decided to be built in an elevated place, higher than the previous gates of Alcalá. At that time it was the outer limit of Madrid, attached from its beginnings to the fence that surrounded the city. Seven years had passed since the beginning of the works for the construction of the Puerta de Alcalá when Sabatini himself addressed complaints to the new mayor of the town due to their slowness. José Antonio Armona, Mayor of the Town, calls on the builders to commit to its completion within a year. The gate was inaugurated in 1778 as an authentic gate and access to Madrid, since on both sides of it there was still the fence that delimited the city to the east and which would remain standing until 1869, the year in which the square was remodeled. Some foreign travelers from Europe describe it in their travel books.[28] It became the main entrance to the town and one of the most representative monuments of his reign, the axis of the reforms he carried out in the entire eastern area of ​​the city: Botanical Garden, Paseo del Prado, fountains of Cybele and Neptune "Fountain of Neptune (Madrid)"), among others.

First uses: 19th century

As soon as the construction was finished, the gate began to exercise its monumental position in the city. Serving as a passageway and triumphal entry, being a decoration for festivals and the center of various processions and festivities. In 1823, the Alcalá Gate was hit by several projectiles during the intervention of the One Hundred Thousand Sons of San Luis in support of Fernando VII. The effects can still be seen on its exterior façade. In this skirmish Bretón de los Herreros loses an eye when confronting the advance troops led by Marshal Bessières. The Duke of Frías writes a poem about this fight:

On July 30, 1854, the Duke of Vistahermosa crossed the Alcalá Gate from Vicálvaro, where he had been defeated. He came brandishing an enemy spear as a trophy, which is why he was nicknamed by the people of Madrid “Longinos” after the Roman soldier who is said to have pierced Christ's side with his spear. Little by little, a new form of transport begins to appear, in the form of buses and private means of transport, its traffic begins to collapse after the opening of the Buen Retiro gardens to the public in 1876. This new phenomenon of congestion caused the area to begin to be remodeled to make it suitable for the new form of transport.

The Alcalá Gate is modernized, and a more suitable environment in the form of a plaza is designed around it. One of the first designers of this space was the urban planner Ángel Fernández de los Ríos, who during the "Gloriosa" assumed the position of councilor in the Presidency of Works.[29] He decided on the name: Plaza de la Independencia "Plaza de la Independencia (Madrid)") in honor of Spanish independence and specifically the defenders of Zaragoza. It aims to decongest the growing vehicle traffic in Puerta del Sol by creating various centers in Aragon. To do this, Fernández de los Ríos decided to make eight streets radiate out of the new square and named them: Sagunto, Numancia, Covadonga, Granada, Padilla, Bravo, Maldonado and Lanuza. In 1866, near the plaza, the rebels from the San Gil Barracks were sentenced to death, and ended up shot on the walls of the neighboring bullring. The Gate is decorated on great occasions, and on some of them it exhibits plays of light, such as the one done at a reception for Alfonso XII.

In 1872, the Madrid City Council decided to carry out the proposed transformation and began its construction together with the Salamanca neighborhood thanks to the intervention of the Marquis of Salamanca.[30] The interventions carried out on the square later in the middle of the century (due to the architects: Secundino Zuazo and Pascual Bravo) left the environment unchanged from the middle of the century to the present. The bullring that was in its vicinity was closed on April 19, 1874 and a new one was opened on the site currently occupied by the Sports Palace, inaugurated on September 4, 1874 until its subsequent closure in 1934,[31]​ a plaza that ended up being moved to Las Ventas. In 1886, just five hundred meters from the Alcalá Gate, an equestrian statue of Baldomero Espartero "Estatua de Espartero (Madrid)" was inaugurated.

Modern era: 20th century

From the door of Alcalá you can barely see the demolitions for the construction of the Gran Vía. The increase in road traffic is beginning to be felt throughout the city. On January 5, 1920, a funeral procession said goodbye to the coffin of Benito Pérez Galdós at the door. Some 20,000 Madrid residents accompanied his coffin to the Almudena cemetery. After a week of various anarchist attacks in Barcelona, ​​on March 8, 1921, next to the Puerta de Alcalá, the president of the Council of Ministers and mayor of Madrid, Eduardo Dato, was shot from a motorcycle with a sidecar when he was traveling in his car after leaving the Senate in the direction of his home on Lagasca street.[32] The attack occurred between the streets of Olózaga and Serrano. President Dato received two direct gunshot wounds to the skull, both of which were necessarily fatal, and the rest slightly injured the driver, as well as the engineer sergeant Manuel Ros and the assistant Juan José Fernández Pascual. This was all the escort that Dato had. The murderers fled down Serrano Street. The city council years later, while the third section of the Gran Vía was being built, dedicated its name to it when they began in 1925 and finished in 1931.[33]​ Due to the increase in road traffic in the area, the gases begin to affect the door, degrading its stones.

In the Civil War, Madrid was loyal to the Republic and caused the gate to suffer the effects of the rearguard in the so-called defense of Madrid. The door was an ideal space for propaganda, which is why they hung posters with the portraits of various leaders of the Soviet Union. of the Soviet Union (above the Royal inscription of Charles III and hiding it) and a sign with the legend "Long live the U.S.S.R."[35] After the Civil War it served as a mass altar for the celebration of the "liberation of Madrid".

At the end of the Civil War (March 8 and 9, 1939) the Plaza de la Independencia "Plaza de la Independencia (Madrid)") was a casual battlefield due to the clashes between Colonel Casado's coup and communist troops advancing along Alcalá Street towards the Ministry of Finance. The communists would take over the Communications Palace for a few hours, while the Casadistas resisted in the Ministry of the Navy, Ministry of War and Bank of Spain. Already at the beginning of 1976 it was declared a National Historical-Artistic Monument.[24] During the Christmas holidays, the city council installs a nativity scene "Bethlehem (scene of the birth of Jesus)") under the central arch. In 1968, a skyscraper called Torre de Valencia was designed and built in the surrounding area, which generated great controversy for being too present in the perspective from the Plaza de Cibeles towards the Puerta de Alcalá.

In the midst of the Madrid movement of the eighties, the members of the musical group Suburbano "Suburbano (band)") Bernardo Fuster and Luis Mendo, together with Francisco Villar"), composed a song called La Puerta de Alcalá "La Puerta de Alcalá (song)") in which they narrate the history of the monument. Recorded in 1986 by the singers Víctor Manuel "Víctor Manuel (singer)") and Ana Belén within their album There is always time for tenderness. This song became a great popular hit.

In 1993 the door underwent the most important restoration in its history. During the time that the works lasted, it was covered by a canvas with drawings by the graphic humorist Antonio Mingote in which various Madrid scenes appeared. The original drawing can currently be seen in the City Museum.

Present

The Puerta de Alcalá is part of the typical tourist routes of the city, as it is on the way between Cibeles and Retiro. In 2001, as part of a UNESCO book donation project for Central America, the door was covered with 45,000 copies following a project devised by the artist Luz Diarriba. In 2004, on the occasion of Prince Felipe's wedding, the door had for several days, like other monuments in the city, a special lighting created by the interior designer Pascua Ortega.) In 2006, during the celebration of La Noche en Blanco, the artist Daniel Canogar used it as a background for the projection of an installation in which hundreds of people seemed to slide over its façade. In the summer of 2006, the Plaza de la Independencia underwent improvement works to transform it into a roundabout.[36] For this reason, the underground pedestrian crossing that crossed Alcalá Street was closed and replaced by a surface crossing, from which, since then, walkers have better access to the door.

The door was used as a backdrop for concerts belonging to the EMA (Europe Music Awards) to be held on November 6 and 7, 2010, organized by the music network MTV, this being the first time it was held in Madrid with Eva Longoria as presenter of the event. Later the prizes were given at La Caja Mágica.

In August 2011, the Alcalá Gate was the scene of the welcome ceremony for Pope Benedict XVI on the occasion of the XXVI World Youth Day Madrid 2011. The Pope crossed the gate accompanied by young people from the five continents.

Currently it is one of the many monuments that are part of the Landscape of Light, a cultural landscape that was declared a World Heritage Site on July 25, 2021.[37]​.

The primitive Gates of Alcalá

The Puerta de Alcalá is currently one of the most relevant monumental references in the city of Madrid, although the present image must be imagined as the culmination of an evolutionary process that began at the end of the century. During the century this entrance had two different architectural structures before becoming a monument at the end of the 18th century. Its relevance as a triumphal entry, providing excellence to the rite of entry to the sovereign's city, gradually acquired importance.[10]​ From the Gate, heading down Alcalá Street, one accessed the Puerta del Sol, and from there through Mayor Street to the Alcázar.

During the plague pandemic that occurred in Madrid in 1580, mention was made of the door as a point of closure to the population. It was in a much more advanced position than the current one, at the intersection of Barquillo and Alcalá streets. This door is called "Plague Gate on Alcalá Street."[11] A decade later its position was moved forward again so that on October 24, 1599, the celebration of the entry into the city of Philip III's wife: Margaret of Austria, married in Valencia, took place. Calle de Alcalá was already being used as an alternative ceremonial entrance to Carrera de San Jerónimo. This event, and the decoration of the city throughout the procession of the procession, was what motivated the construction of the primitive factory: that is, of an entrance gate and the cobblestones of Alcalá Street.[4]​ This first itinerary of entry into Madrid from the Alcalá gate defined the subsequent itinerary of other royal entrances to the court and villa, establishing the route from Alcalá de Henares and the alcázar.

The architectural and ornamental layout of this first arch was the work of Patricio Cajés, responsible for the ephemeral architectures in royal celebrations.[4] It was located somewhat further west than the current one, at the intersection of Alcalá with Alfonso XI street. The Gate had a structure divided into three parts, it was made up of a central arch and two side openings. The entire door was built of brick, except for the pedestals and pilasters used for the vertical articulation of the factory, for which stone was used. Diego Sillero agreed to work on said work to give the marble plaster. The exterior face of the door was more decorated, while the interior was “plain and nothing more” (in the words of Diego Sillero). The sculptural decoration was made by Juan de Porres and Alonso López Maldonado. These primitive motifs were made in plaster, and due to their exposure to the elements they soon showed obvious signs of deterioration.[12] The decoration consisted of the royal arms and the Villa, with two figures representing Manto "Manto (mythology)") and his son Ocno, both founders of the city according to mythology: "Mantua Carpetana". The subsequent entry, already in 1615, of Isabel de Borbón in Madrid generated new plans to remodel the arch and its images. In 1624, the allegorical images were permanently removed, mainly due to the imminent risk of collapse that they presented.[13]​.

In 1636, part of the door was demolished and a single-span brick structure replaced the tripartite arch. The previously existing allegorical figures were replaced by other stone statues of Our Lady of Mercedes. Above the side arches there were statues of San Pedro Nolasco and Blessed Mariana de Jesús.[3] The appearance of this second door was simpler than the previous one. These architectural changes to the door were part of the renovations carried out on the Buen Retiro palace. After the construction of the palace, the façade of the Royal Site that was adjacent to the Alcalá road was literally attached to one of the ends of the door, while the other at the beginning of the Recoletos meadow had been practically embedded in the walls of the warehouse established since 1667 on the immediate grounds. The main architect of the town, Teodoro de Ardemans, was in charge of remodeling the surrounding space, a project that was completed around 1692. Despite these renovations, it is possible to think that it was relatively easy to build and demolish the door, following the canons imposed by the urban planning fashion of the time.[14] In a painting by Antonio Joli that shows a panoramic view of Alcalá Street in 1750, one of these doors can be seen. Alcalá.[15]​ The position shown in this painting is confirmed by the map made by Nicolas Chalmandrier in 1761.

The old gate was demolished in 1770 when Alcalá Street was expanded, then called "Camino Real de Aragón y Cataluña", with land taken from what is currently the Retiro Park, belonging to the Buen Retiro Palace.[16] This gate, which served as access to the city along the Camino Real de Aragón y Cataluña, was one of the five main ones that the wall that surrounded the town, along with those of Toledo "Puerta de Toledo (Madrid)"), Segovia"), Bilbao and Atocha "Puerta de Atocha (monument)").[17]​.

The bullring of Puerta de Alcalá

In 1754, Fernando VI, through the capital's Hospital Board, inaugurated the Puerta de Alcalá bullring, installed in front of the Buen Retiro Gardens. It had an initial capacity for 12,000 spectators and its location corresponds to the space that at the beginning of the century was delimited by Claudio Coello and Conde de Aranda streets. Its demolition and disappearance was caused by the projected "Plan Castro", later known as the Salamanca neighborhood "Salamanca (Madrid)"), due to the involvement of the Marquis of Salamanca in said urban development business.[18] That bullring of the Puerta de Alcalá would be the bullring of the town of Madrid for 120 years, between 1754 and 1874. It was replaced by the bullring of the Fuente del Berro, an installation that in turn would be replaced by the Monumental de las Ventas in 1934.[20]​.

Decision of a monumental door: Charles III

On December 9, 1759, Charles III (son of Philip V) entered Madrid from Naples to succeed his brother, the late Ferdinand VI, on the throne. Disembarking in Barcelona, ​​from there he made his first trip to the town and entered through the old Alcalá gate, which he did not like, so he decided to tear it down to erect a new one. This project was part of their city improvement plans. Already then there were three possible designs for the new gate: that of the military engineer José de Hermosilla and author of the layout of the Paseo del Prado,[21]​ that of the architect Ventura Rodríguez, and finally two design proposals by Francisco Sabatini.[5]​.

The architect Ventura Rodríguez submitted five projects to the competition, numbered and dated May 16, 1769, all of them were evaluated by Carlos III in just a couple of days.[22] Sabatini's three neoclassical-style designs were the same size and were nearly seventy feet high. The original project offered two different finishes, one with pilasters and the other with attached columns. Finally the two were merged into one and that is why the facades are different.[23]​ The design had influences from the Fuente dell'Acqua Paola") and the façade of the Barberini Palace in Rome. In the decree by which the door was declared a historical-artistic monument, it is described as "the first modern triumphal arch in Europe, which had not been erected since Roman times."[24]​ On May 18, 1769, Charles III decided that the project of Sabatini is the one that will be carried out.[25][26]​.

The construction of the New Gate of Alcalá

After the choice by Charles III of the combined design of the gate, a few days later (on May 27, 1769) the contracting of the works and services for what will be the "Nueva Puerta de Alcalá" began. The bases that Sabatini imposed were very meticulous and included details such as the type of material used, origin of quarries and required qualities. brick from the rivera was required, the white stone from Colmenar de Oreja (I preferred that stone from Nava Redonda, rejecting all that came from Mingo Rubio). On June 6, hiring was closed at Casa de la Villa. Of the six offers presented, Sabatini favored the one offered by Francisco de la Fuente. Despite this, Sabatini demanded a reduction in costs, which ended in disagreement. Finally the work fell to Santiago Feijoo y Cía, who was able to make a reduction of eight percent. For the beginning of the work, the Madrid City Council advanced money, mortgaging the tax on taverns. There is no evidence that this money was subsequently returned.[27]​ The works began at the beginning of 1770. At the beginning of the construction works, just when the buttresses of the new Alcalá gate were emerging, there were complaints, observing that the new gate disfigured the Real Pósito that was located nearby.

The superintendent of the work was Alonso Pérez Delgado, mayor of the town at the beginning of the works. The arch was decided to be built in an elevated place, higher than the previous gates of Alcalá. At that time it was the outer limit of Madrid, attached from its beginnings to the fence that surrounded the city. Seven years had passed since the beginning of the works for the construction of the Puerta de Alcalá when Sabatini himself addressed complaints to the new mayor of the town due to their slowness. José Antonio Armona, Mayor of the Town, calls on the builders to commit to its completion within a year. The gate was inaugurated in 1778 as an authentic gate and access to Madrid, since on both sides of it there was still the fence that delimited the city to the east and which would remain standing until 1869, the year in which the square was remodeled. Some foreign travelers from Europe describe it in their travel books.[28] It became the main entrance to the town and one of the most representative monuments of his reign, the axis of the reforms he carried out in the entire eastern area of ​​the city: Botanical Garden, Paseo del Prado, fountains of Cybele and Neptune "Fountain of Neptune (Madrid)"), among others.

First uses: 19th century

As soon as the construction was finished, the gate began to exercise its monumental position in the city. Serving as a passageway and triumphal entry, being a decoration for festivals and the center of various processions and festivities. In 1823, the Alcalá Gate was hit by several projectiles during the intervention of the One Hundred Thousand Sons of San Luis in support of Fernando VII. The effects can still be seen on its exterior façade. In this skirmish Bretón de los Herreros loses an eye when confronting the advance troops led by Marshal Bessières. The Duke of Frías writes a poem about this fight:

On July 30, 1854, the Duke of Vistahermosa crossed the Alcalá Gate from Vicálvaro, where he had been defeated. He came brandishing an enemy spear as a trophy, which is why he was nicknamed by the people of Madrid “Longinos” after the Roman soldier who is said to have pierced Christ's side with his spear. Little by little, a new form of transport begins to appear, in the form of buses and private means of transport, its traffic begins to collapse after the opening of the Buen Retiro gardens to the public in 1876. This new phenomenon of congestion caused the area to begin to be remodeled to make it suitable for the new form of transport.

The Alcalá Gate is modernized, and a more suitable environment in the form of a plaza is designed around it. One of the first designers of this space was the urban planner Ángel Fernández de los Ríos, who during the "Gloriosa" assumed the position of councilor in the Presidency of Works.[29] He decided on the name: Plaza de la Independencia "Plaza de la Independencia (Madrid)") in honor of Spanish independence and specifically the defenders of Zaragoza. It aims to decongest the growing vehicle traffic in Puerta del Sol by creating various centers in Aragon. To do this, Fernández de los Ríos decided to make eight streets radiate out of the new square and named them: Sagunto, Numancia, Covadonga, Granada, Padilla, Bravo, Maldonado and Lanuza. In 1866, near the plaza, the rebels from the San Gil Barracks were sentenced to death, and ended up shot on the walls of the neighboring bullring. The Gate is decorated on great occasions, and on some of them it exhibits plays of light, such as the one done at a reception for Alfonso XII.

In 1872, the Madrid City Council decided to carry out the proposed transformation and began its construction together with the Salamanca neighborhood thanks to the intervention of the Marquis of Salamanca.[30] The interventions carried out on the square later in the middle of the century (due to the architects: Secundino Zuazo and Pascual Bravo) left the environment unchanged from the middle of the century to the present. The bullring that was in its vicinity was closed on April 19, 1874 and a new one was opened on the site currently occupied by the Sports Palace, inaugurated on September 4, 1874 until its subsequent closure in 1934,[31]​ a plaza that ended up being moved to Las Ventas. In 1886, just five hundred meters from the Alcalá Gate, an equestrian statue of Baldomero Espartero "Estatua de Espartero (Madrid)" was inaugurated.

Modern era: 20th century

From the door of Alcalá you can barely see the demolitions for the construction of the Gran Vía. The increase in road traffic is beginning to be felt throughout the city. On January 5, 1920, a funeral procession said goodbye to the coffin of Benito Pérez Galdós at the door. Some 20,000 Madrid residents accompanied his coffin to the Almudena cemetery. After a week of various anarchist attacks in Barcelona, ​​on March 8, 1921, next to the Puerta de Alcalá, the president of the Council of Ministers and mayor of Madrid, Eduardo Dato, was shot from a motorcycle with a sidecar when he was traveling in his car after leaving the Senate in the direction of his home on Lagasca street.[32] The attack occurred between the streets of Olózaga and Serrano. President Dato received two direct gunshot wounds to the skull, both of which were necessarily fatal, and the rest slightly injured the driver, as well as the engineer sergeant Manuel Ros and the assistant Juan José Fernández Pascual. This was all the escort that Dato had. The murderers fled down Serrano Street. The city council years later, while the third section of the Gran Vía was being built, dedicated its name to it when they began in 1925 and finished in 1931.[33]​ Due to the increase in road traffic in the area, the gases begin to affect the door, degrading its stones.

In the Civil War, Madrid was loyal to the Republic and caused the gate to suffer the effects of the rearguard in the so-called defense of Madrid. The door was an ideal space for propaganda, which is why they hung posters with the portraits of various leaders of the Soviet Union. of the Soviet Union (above the Royal inscription of Charles III and hiding it) and a sign with the legend "Long live the U.S.S.R."[35] After the Civil War it served as a mass altar for the celebration of the "liberation of Madrid".

At the end of the Civil War (March 8 and 9, 1939) the Plaza de la Independencia "Plaza de la Independencia (Madrid)") was a casual battlefield due to the clashes between Colonel Casado's coup and communist troops advancing along Alcalá Street towards the Ministry of Finance. The communists would take over the Communications Palace for a few hours, while the Casadistas resisted in the Ministry of the Navy, Ministry of War and Bank of Spain. Already at the beginning of 1976 it was declared a National Historical-Artistic Monument.[24] During the Christmas holidays, the city council installs a nativity scene "Bethlehem (scene of the birth of Jesus)") under the central arch. In 1968, a skyscraper called Torre de Valencia was designed and built in the surrounding area, which generated great controversy for being too present in the perspective from the Plaza de Cibeles towards the Puerta de Alcalá.

In the midst of the Madrid movement of the eighties, the members of the musical group Suburbano "Suburbano (band)") Bernardo Fuster and Luis Mendo, together with Francisco Villar"), composed a song called La Puerta de Alcalá "La Puerta de Alcalá (song)") in which they narrate the history of the monument. Recorded in 1986 by the singers Víctor Manuel "Víctor Manuel (singer)") and Ana Belén within their album There is always time for tenderness. This song became a great popular hit.

In 1993 the door underwent the most important restoration in its history. During the time that the works lasted, it was covered by a canvas with drawings by the graphic humorist Antonio Mingote in which various Madrid scenes appeared. The original drawing can currently be seen in the City Museum.

Present

The Puerta de Alcalá is part of the typical tourist routes of the city, as it is on the way between Cibeles and Retiro. In 2001, as part of a UNESCO book donation project for Central America, the door was covered with 45,000 copies following a project devised by the artist Luz Diarriba. In 2004, on the occasion of Prince Felipe's wedding, the door had for several days, like other monuments in the city, a special lighting created by the interior designer Pascua Ortega.) In 2006, during the celebration of La Noche en Blanco, the artist Daniel Canogar used it as a background for the projection of an installation in which hundreds of people seemed to slide over its façade. In the summer of 2006, the Plaza de la Independencia underwent improvement works to transform it into a roundabout.[36] For this reason, the underground pedestrian crossing that crossed Alcalá Street was closed and replaced by a surface crossing, from which, since then, walkers have better access to the door.

The door was used as a backdrop for concerts belonging to the EMA (Europe Music Awards) to be held on November 6 and 7, 2010, organized by the music network MTV, this being the first time it was held in Madrid with Eva Longoria as presenter of the event. Later the prizes were given at La Caja Mágica.

In August 2011, the Alcalá Gate was the scene of the welcome ceremony for Pope Benedict XVI on the occasion of the XXVI World Youth Day Madrid 2011. The Pope crossed the gate accompanied by young people from the five continents.

Currently it is one of the many monuments that are part of the Landscape of Light, a cultural landscape that was declared a World Heritage Site on July 25, 2021.[37]​.