The Puerta del Sol as a "meeting point" for the metaphor "of understanding and dialogue" to create "an agora" or "a forum" of the 21st century, as explained by the mayor of the capital, José Luis Martínez-Almeida. This is the project that the City Council of Madrid manages for kilometer zero and is captained by architects Ricardo Sánchez and Ignacio Linazasoro , winners in 2014 of the Piensa Sol ideas contest, convened by the Official College of Architects of Madrid ( COAM ), and that the current corporation has decided to recover

The councilor had already announced in an informative breakfast of Europa Press last September that the central Madrid square would be totally pedestrian for what had been called an international competition of ideas. The intention at that first moment was that the reform would cover from Alcalá street to Seville and the section of the main street that goes from Esparteros to Puerta del Sol.

The mayor said in this regard that recovering this old project amends "an injustice" with architects who had already won an international competition of ideas in 2014 and his project had not been developed.

The intention of the editors of the project is "to recover the original character of the 19th century square" under the axiom of "clean, shine and shine", as they themselves have pointed out in the presentation of the project, making the analogy with the motto of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language. To undertake this line of action, the premise will be clear: "More is less." "We want to remove items and order them because there are too many in the square," Sánchez and Linazasoro said.

For that reason, the original project would consist in which the oval north area of ​​the square between the Preciados and Montera streets would be delimited by a row of stone benches with lights at its base and in each of the two corners the statue of The Bear and the Madroño and La Mariblanca , in the approximate spaces in which they are now. The central part would be emptied with only one fountain and a small stage while on the other side, near the Royal Post Office , the statue of Carlos III would be placed.

Current state of the Puerta del Sol, in MadridÁNGEL NAVARRETE

With that empty space in the center it is with which the editors of the project intend to recreate the classical Greek "agora" or the "Roman forum" in "one of the most emblematic places not only in Madrid but throughout Spain", they have explained in COAM headquarters.

Now, the City Council of the capital will begin the conversations with the different actors involved (Metro de Madrid, merchants, Regional Transport Consortium ...) to develop these reforms that, according to the deadlines they handle, are expected to begin in the year 2021 to fulfill "the promise collected in Madrid 360 to create a pedestrian area and zero emissions," said the mayor.

The reform of the Paseo de Carlos V

Almeida has placed this new model of the Plaza de Sol as the "axis of union of two cultural axes unparalleled in any European country." On the one hand, the axis that would make up the Royal Palace , the discovered remains of the Godoy Palace - advanced by EL MUNDO - and the Campo del Moro lands. On the other, there would be the Prado-Recoletos Hub with the Prado, Thyssen and Reina Sofía Museums that would join the Retiro Park.

It is precisely in this second axis where the City Council of the capital, in collaboration with the COAM, will open a contest of ideas to "redignify" this axis of the capital, the councilor confirmed. "We want to open a period of reflection to carry out possible reforms in the area of ​​the entire Paseo de Carlos V and the Plaza de Colón, " he said, which would join the segregated bike path of the Paseo de la Castellana unanimously approved in plenary of Cibeles in December.

"This is an old aspiration for which we are already starting to get late," said the councilor, who has placed the problem that this is "one of the main routes of entry of private vehicles" in the capital.

Vice Mayor Begoña Villacís, for her part, has valued the reform of this axis to "give a more livable and international city." "Everyone believes that the cultural axis of Madrid ends in Atocha , and that is not the case, because beyond we have La Casa Encendida , the Ministry of Agriculture , the Royal Tapestry Factory ", it has influenced to later point out that this area is in "inhospitable, hostile and harsh" news.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Madrid
  • Spain
  • José Luis Martínez-Almeida

Politics Citizens uncheck Ayuso on pollution and Almeida defends it because "they intend to corner it in denialism"

Politics Demonstration before the Congress against the investiture of Pedro Sánchez: "United Spain will never be defeated"

Protest Vallecas residents focus on Cibeles because they don't want to be "the landfill in Madrid"