About Madrid
Madrid is the biggest city of Spain and also serves as its capital. It is said to have the third largest municipal population in the European Union, after London and Berlin. Madrid serves as the Financial and political center of Spain.
Madrid is the seat of government of Spain. This is also where the residence of the Spanish Monarch is located. Madrid is not only considered as the financial center of Spain but as well as the whole of the Iberian Peninsula which would include Portugal. Madrid is where you can find nearly all the head offices of major Spanish companies including the three listed world’s largest companies which are Telefonica, Repsol YPF and Banco Santander.
One good thing about Madrid is that while it is the most progressive and advanced city of Spain, it has continuously asserted its efforts in the preservation of its historical environments. Tourist can still feel the history of Spain when they would visit the huge Royal Palace of Madrid. The sights and feel of the old Spanish traditions can still be savored by visitors when they visit the Teatro Real or the Royal Theatre with its newly restored 1850 Opera House.
Other notable historical sights inside Madrid would include the Buen Retiro Park which was created way back in 1631. If you delve in history and would like to see Spain’s historical archives, you will have to visit the imposing National Library that was founded and built in 1712 that houses most of Spain’s historical archives. Madrid also boasts of three art museums where you can find splendid works of great masters. The Prado Museum, which is home to one of the best collections of art works, the Museo Nacional, a museum created for modern art and Thyssen Bornemisza Museum that is located in the Villahermosa Palace.
Seven decades ago, Madrid was the most heavily damaged city of Spain during the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939. The city was heavily bombed resulting to heavy loss of human lives and infrastructures. After the war, and during the dictatorship of Franco, Madrid became very industrialized that resulted to a heavy influx of rural immigrants from other parts of Spain. After the death of Franco, the different political parties of Spain decided to accept King Juan Carlos as successor in order to preserve continuing stability of the country towards progress. This is the reason why to date, Spain is considered as a form of constitutional monarchy with the City of Madrid as its Capital.
